A New Reign
by Sivol
Summary: ***CURRENTLY UNDERGOING A REWRITE!*** Just after killing Voldemort, Harry learns that he has several new powers. He decided to put those powers to use to change the Wizarding world for the better, but meets many hardships along the way. HP/SS Good!Draco, Powerful!Harry, OOC!Snape, Some dark humor.
1. Chapter 1

Thank you to Jens2 for correcting many of my grammatical errors! All mistakes in this fic are purely my own.

**Chapter 1**

Harry was quite scared for the first time in a long time. The neglect and occasional whacks over the head at the Dursley's had never had him this terrified. The duels with Voldy on a near-yearly basis didn't even have him as frightened as this.

What had him so scared? Why, it was that bastard of a Potion's Professor lying on the floor in front of him, suffering from the bite of that wretched snake that old Snake-Face himself set on the man for being the one who killed Albus Dumbledore, owner of the Elder Wand. Harry had just finished battling Voldemort, killed his sorry arse, and came back to rescue Snape.

"You're not allowed to die you git!" Harry yelled at the man in front of him. He did the only thing he could think of, grabbed on to Snape's foot, and apparated directly to the Hogwarts wards. Casting a levitation spell on the man, he virtually ran to the infirmary, taking the dying Professor along as smoothly as he could.

Bursting into the room, he lowered Snape to one of the few empty beds and called over Poppy, who was barking orders at some of the healers from St. Mungo's. "Mr. Potter, I am busy, what is it?" She demanded rushing to the bed he was standing near.

Pointing at the man lying there, whose blood was contrasting against the white of the sheets that adorned the bed, Harry told her, "Heal him! He was bit by Nagini."

Seeing the state that their resident Potions Master was in, the Medi-Witch nodded. "I will do my best, but I am busy. Go get me some gauze and beozar, and go fire-call St. Mungo's to get more healers here, we haven't enough." She ordered.

Harry rushed off to gather the items that Madame Pomfrey had ordered. In his haste, he wasn't sure which type of gauze to get, so he simply brought some of every kind, and a pain relief potion, just in case. Tossing them down on the table beside the woman, he quickly leaned over Snape. "You still aren't allowed to die you bastard. I demand answers!" He whispered loudly.

"Mr. Potter!" The woman exclaimed. "Language, please." She went back to busying herself healing wounds and stopping the blood flow. The young man simply scoffed at her and ran to the Headmaster's office. Glad for the fact that neither Snape nor McGonagall desired any passwords from the students, he bound in and made his way to the fireplace.

Taking a handful of floo powder, Harry threw it into the raging fire then called for St. Mungo's, sticking his head in the fire as well. "We need more healers at Hogwarts, there just aren't enough." He called out.

A rugged voice came from behind a desk, "We've sent all we can spare!" A head popped up, and the man looked to be quite old. "We're runnin' on men and women who've barely gotten into the field, make do with what you have!"

Harry growled a bit, quite aggravated at the man's attitude. He pulled his head from the fire, and almost jogged on his way back to the infirmary. Upon reaching the doors, he heard someone yelling, "YOU LAY BACK DOWN THIS INSTANT!" _It must be Poppy._ Harry thought to himself.

Entering the ward, he saw that he was indeed correct, and Madame Pomfrey was yelling at an angry, confused Professor Snape who was trying to get out of the infernal place as quickly as he could. Harry came up to the bed, held out his hand, and straps came up from the mattress holding the struggling man down. "You are going to do whatever Madame Pomfrey tells you to so you can get better. I have questions and you have to be alive to answer them." Harry informed him, a glare set on his face.

Snape's black eyes stared at the boy for a moment. He tried to say something, but the hole in his throat proved to be making that impossible. Giving in, the man laid his head on to the pillow that was quite uncomfortable and bore his neck to the woman to make the healing quicker.

"What did St. Mungo's say?" Poppy demanded as she got to work again, casting healing spells on the fuming man.

"They said they were running low themselves and told us to work with what we have." Harry informed her.

"Hold this." The Medi-Witch ordered, shoving an armful of gauze into the young man's hands. "Severus, you're going to be in a lot of pain for a moment, you'd best reconsider your refusal for the pain potion." She tried, putting some sort of salve around the hole.

The man rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but again, words wouldn't come out. "Give those back." Poppy said to Harry, who did so just before conjuring a paper and quill. He waved his hand and one of the restraints came loose, allowing for free movement of Snape's right hand, then he shoved the quill into his professor's hand and charmed the paper to stay still below it while the man wrote.

_**Yes, use it, but pour it directly into the hole, don't bother trying to make me swallow it**__._ The man wrote.

"Alright." Poppy said hastily, and did just that.

_**When did you learn wandless magic? **_Severus demanded on his paper. As the potion found its way to the wound, Snape grimaced and a horrible gurgling noise was heard as he clenched his hands, effectively breaking the quill.

Harry summoned another, and banished the remains of the one that lay in pieces on the bed. "When I killed Voldemort. The bastard broke my wand when he died, and I felt some sort of rush of magic, then noticed that the items I wanted kept coming to me almost instantaneously." He explained.

The dark wizard's eyes grew wide. _**Shit.**_ Was all he wrote on the paper.

"Professor Snape, language please!" Poppy admonished.

"What, what's wrong with that?" Harry demanded. "That was actually going to be one of my questions for when you were healed, was what did that mean."

_**Foolish Gryffindor. Use that space in between your ears that supposedly holds a brain.**_ He wrote out.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "You're lying there, dying, in a hospital bed, blood coming from your neck, and still you find the time to insult my intelligence. I have a good idea of what it means, but I refuse to simply believe it until I have proof." He said, his face turning angrier. "Is that not something you have tried to teach us for so long? To never accept things at face value?" He waved his hand and the restraint came back up, holding the writing hand of his Professor. "It seems that you are the one who should use your brain. I will take my leave, and my parchment and quill. Should you feel the need to communicate again, you will simply have to wait until you can use your voice." Harry stormed off, banishing his writing utensils.

* * *

><p>Nearly a week had passed since Harry had stormed off. He was quite angry with Snape for acting like a git, but he didn't let that stop him from going into the hospital wing every single day and helping to heal those who needed it. He just took to ignoring the dark wizard whenever he attempted to garner attention from young Harry.<p>

Finally, the man opened his mouth, and in a strange almost gurgling way, he called out, "Potter."

Harry glanced up from the young woman whose arm he was wrapping in gauze, and called out, "Just a minute Professor Snape." Finishing the job, and whispering words of confidence to the young woman, Harry went off and stood beside the bed that held his most loathed professor. "What?" He demanded.

"You took... His power." Snape worked out.

"Yes, so I gathered." Harry said, as if they were discussing the weather. "I am sure that's not all you wish to say."

Snape shook his head, his hair falling into his face. "You have... His power." He tried.

"You've already said that." Harry replied shortly.

The dark wizard shook his head again, and motioned his head towards the restraint that held his right hand. Harry sighed and waved his hand, releasing the man's right wrist. Snape rolled up his left sleeve revealing the dark mark which had not vanished. "His power." He repeated, pointing towards the mark.

Harry's eyes widened. "What are you trying to tell me?" He asked in disbelief.

The man before him grimaced. "Your anger... Yesterday... Burned."

Transfiguring a pillow from one of the empty beds into a chair, Harry sat down and tried to wrap his head around this. "How are you sure? Perhaps what you felt was something else that came from me." He tried.

Again, the man shook his head. He put his fingers to his forehead and said, "Touch... Be mad..."

Harry touched the scar on his own forehead, but was confused more than anything. "How do you expect me to just become angry?"

Severus growled. "Foolish... Idiot... Gryffindor."

Harry grew quite irritated at that, and forgetting he held his fingers to his scar, he yelled, "You have no right to ins-"

Snape leaned his head back, a gurgling yell escaping his lips. Harry watched in horrified fascination as the dark mark on the man's arm moved, and the skin around it grew red with irritation. He quickly removed his hand from his scar, and the yelling of the man before him died out. "See?" The man panted, dropping his head to the pillow and closing his eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me." Harry whispered.

Suddenly, Draco Malfoy came into the infirmary. "Madame Pomfrey, where's Potter? I don't think the Dark Lord is dead." He called out, fright lacing his voice.

The Medi-Witch looked up from her patient. "What are you talking about?" She demanded. "Of course he's dead."

Draco shook his head. "No. Yesterday, my mark, it burned. And just now, it moved and burned again."

Harry stuck his head out from behind a curtain. "Come here Malfoy." He demanded.

Draco walked up to the young savior. "Potter. Listen to me, the Dark Lord, he isn't dead. I felt him through my mark. Uncle Severus, tell him!" He demanded.

Severus shook his head. "He's dead."

Draco looked as if he were about to argue with the man, so Harry stopped him. "Listen Malfoy." He looked around him and cast a silencing charm. He knew the young man's reaction would be a bad one. Thankfully, he also knew that the young blond was a spy for the light, just as Snape had been. "When I killed Voldemort, I took his power, apparently I also took his control over the dark mark."

Draco's eyes narrowed for a moment, then lit up. He laughed outright. "This has to be some sort of joke."

Harry rose a sardonic eyebrow. _A look, _Snape thought, _That he obviously took from me._ "You don't believe me?" Harry asked. "Fine. Say something to make me angry." He offered.

Snape's eyes grew wide. "Not... again..." He pleaded.

"It's the only way he'll believe me, Snape. Stop acting like a baby." Harry scolded.

Draco looked at Harry incredulously. "How dare you! How dare you say something like that to Uncle Severus. He's saved your sorry arse time and time again, and you have the gaul to call him a baby? You are an inconsiderate twit, with no-"

Harry didn't have to put his fingers to his scar this time, the anger he felt at being berated came through the dark mark, and both Draco and Severus cried out in agony. "Believe me now you pompous prat?" Harry asked, the pain on the word 'Prat' becoming little more than scalding before it died out completely.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Ron and Harry were talking with each other in the infirmary 3 days later. Ron was there watching over Hermione, who had come in a few days ago when she took a nasty spill down a flight of stairs in the grand staircase when one of them decided to move. "I still say she's lucky she was already on the staircase when it moved. If she'd been just a second later, she would have fallen and landed on the stairs below her." Ron said.

"I know." Harry offered. "And when you found her, you did the right thing. I would have thought that you would have tried to heal her yourself, seeing as you are so incredibly impulsive."

Ron playfully smacked Harry on his arm. "I'm only impulsive when it comes to me. I couldn't bear it if I would have done something that would cause her to get hurt."

The young savior nodded, and rested his hand on the shoulder of his friend. "Listen, I need to go have a conversation with Snape and Malfoy. They're not forthcoming with information I need. You get some sleep, yeah?"

"I still don't like knowing that you have something that old Snake-Face had. But I know you wont turn evil from it like he did, that's just not you." Ron stated simply. "Go make them fill you in, I might sleep in one of the beds in here if Madame Pomfrey agrees."

"Alright, see you later." Harry barely smiled. He made his way over to Snape's bed where the man was sleeping.

Draco came out of Madame Pomfrey's office with a smirk on his face. The Medi-Witch followed behind. "You are not to give him any alcohol. Make him talk, use those vocal cords and get his voice back to where it was." The woman ordered.

"Of course Madame." Draco said with mock-submissiveness.

"Snape's getting out today then?" Harry asked as they approached the man's bedside.

"Yes he is." Draco informed the young savior. "It seems that Madame Pomfrey has agreed to his release."

"Only under the condition that Draco be with him during his waking hours. The man is notorious for drowning his worry in alcohol, especially after he goes back from the infirmary and I will not have it this time." She stated.

"I would appreciate it... If you would stop... Telling the world of my... Personal habits." Severus bit out.

Harry glanced to the man, "Thought you were asleep." He scolded.

"I was until they... Woke me with bickering." Snape growled. He sat up in the bed, throwing his legs over the side and began to stand. Wobbling a bit, Draco caught on to him, but was promptly pushed away. "I do not seek your help." Severus glared at the young man then grabbed his wand.

Harry stood and waited for Snape to lead the way. As the man was heading from the hospital wing, he asked, "So where are we going?"

"Away from here." Snape said bitterly. After making it halfway to the dungeons, the man stopped and turned to face Harry. "Why are you following us?" He demanded. "I know why Draco... Is supposed to come... But why you?"

"Because I have questions, and I've always been curious to know what your personal quarters looked like." Harry answered bluntly.

Severus glared at the young man before him. "What makes you think... I will allow you... Into my rooms?" He demanded.

"Because if you don't." Harry smirked and touched his scar with his fingers. "I'll get mad."

"Manipulative boy." Severus muttered angrily. As they entered the man's chambers, Harry noted that it was fairly much like he'd thought it would be. Green walls, black carpet, silver hardware, and dark. Two things surprised him though, an empty tank sitting in the corner of the main room, and the furniture looked comfortable.

"Sit down, I have questions and they will be answered." Harry stated.

"What gives you the right... To order me around in... My own rooms?" Snape demanded.

Rolling his eyes, Harry pointed to his scar again. "We've been through this."

Snape grunted then sat in a chair, and Harry sat across from him in another. "Alright, first question. Why do you act like you hate me, then turn around and save me at every opportunity?"

"I don't hate you... I dislike you... I saved you because you... Were the hope of our world." Severus answered in a half-truth.

"Alright, I'll take that. Even though I know you're leaving something out." Harry stated. "Why do you push my buttons and make me angry?"

"Because you're easy." Snape answered with a snarl.

Draco came back in and handed the man a glass of water. "So you make me angry for the fun of it? I don't buy that one bit." Harry stated, leaning back. When Severus glared at him, he continued. "You act like someone who is hiding something, and I think you make me angry so I wont find out whatever it is."

"He's got you there Uncle Severus." Draco commented.

"Neither of you know... What you're talking about... Next question." Snape demanded.

Harry smirked, then turned serious. "What powers might I inherit from apparently stealing Voldy's magic?"

"We are not sure... Everything he could do... You must find that... Out on your own." Severus told him. "Next." He stated, showing that he didn't wish to stay on that train of thought.

Sighing, Harry ruffled his hair. He looked everywhere but the two men, and finally, after a few minutes of silence, he asked, "Can I live with one of you?"

Both of their eyes widened, and Draco spoke, "Why on earth would you want to live with one of us? You hate us! You can't live with me anyways, I live with Uncle Severus, it's his decision."

Harry shook his head, and used Severus' own words. "I don't hate you... I dislike you. I can't go back to the Dursley's. I promised them they'd never have to see me again after last summer. Grimmuald Place is out of the question, as what's left of the Order is still using it as base. The Weasley's is a no go, I wouldn't feel right going back there without Fred around, and Ginny keeps trying to make me ask her to marry me." He sighed again. "You two aren't after my fame or name, so I don't have to worry about you spewing to the tabloids that I would be living with you, and I'd pay rent."

At the prospect of money, Severus' eyebrow shot up. "How much rent?" He asked.

A small smirk found it's way to Harry's lips. "40 Galleons a week."

Severus seemed to consider this for a few minutes, then said, "I'm not sure."

"Look, I'll make it worth your while. One of the 10 Potions Masters alive died a few months back. Left everything in his vaults to the boy who lived. I'll give you the key to his vault that holds all of his potions related materials. Had the goblins sort them out like that in case I needed it." Harry offered.

Severus' other eyebrow shot up and he turned to the blond. "Draco... what do you think?"

"Only if he lets me pick out his wardrobe." He said snootily. "He looks like a street urchin."

* * *

><p>At Gringotts, Harry stood with Severus and Draco next to him, speaking to Griphook, a goblin that Harry had become quite friendly with. "I want to give Severus Snape a key to vault 682. He shall have rights over it."<p>

The goblin eyed him warily. "You wish to give a known Death Eater the key to your potions vault?"

Shaking his head, Harry massaged one of his temples. "He's not a Death Eater. He was a spy for the light. That is not the point."

"As you wish Lord Potter." Griphook said, with a slight bow. He disappeared into a small room and returned some time later with a key that he handed to the dark wizard.

"I didn't know you were a Lord." Draco stated.

"What did you expect to happen once I came of age? The Potter name would just up and disappear?" Harry asked mockingly. "Griphook, I would also like to make a withdrawal. Malfoy, how much are we going to need for a new wardrobe?"

"With the rags you wear? Probably at least 500 Galleons." He snorted. "We are going to be replacing everything after all, and if you are a Lord, we need to dress you like one."

"Alright. Then I would like to take out 700 Galleons." Harry stated.

The goblin nodded and commented, "Lord Potter, your relationship with this young man is most questionable."

"I agree." Harry said. "But I am going to be living with them, and we wouldn't want to embarrass his pompous senses, now would we?" He smirked.

"At least I'm not the one in dire need of a new look." Draco commented. "You've all the fashion sense of a blast-ended skrewt."

Severus looked on in amusement at the barbs and jabs shared by the two young men and began to wonder just what he got himself into. As Harry took the money and thanked the goblin, they left the bank and set off for Madame Malkin's.

People kept coming up and thanking Harry for defeating Voldemort, and no matter how many times he said it, they wouldn't believe that he didn't do it alone. Finally, when they reached the robe shop, Severus locked the doors behind them.

Madame Malkin came out and demanded, "What gives you the right to lock my doors from customers?"

Harry stepped forward. "That is my fault Ma'am. People were hoarding around me, and I preferred to be in as little company as possible today." He said, taking the blame.

She smiled and nodded, "Why didn't you just say so deary? What can I do for you?"

Harry stepped back again, and pushed Draco forward, who needed very little prompting. "Lord Potter wishes to purchase an entire wardrobe that will accompany his title." The blond said haughtily.

"I see." The woman said. "Then let's take some measurements!" She clasped her hands together and smiled brightly at the trio.

Harry felt quite exposed and slightly embarrassed as the woman poked and prodded him with measuring tape and called out numbers. When she got to his inseam, the young man felt his face burn, and was sure he would be blushing furiously.

"Did you feel that Uncle Severus?" Draco asked, rubbing his mark.

"Indeed." The man answered.

Harry, still blushing, looked confused at the two. "What are you talking about?"

"When she started measuring your inseam, my arm did something. It felt like it almost... Tickled." The blond answered lowly to the young man in front of him, confusion apparent.

"It seems as if... Your emotions come through... Not just anger..." Severus whispered, not wanting the woman to know what they were talking about.

Harry laughed heartily. "Oh wonderful. We get to explore the entire range of emotions then and their effects on you two."

"Alright." The cheerful woman stated. "Time to pick out fabrics!" Her eyes lit up with enthusiasm.

Harry and Draco spent the better part of the next hour arguing with each other over what colors and textures would be used. Right now, they were arguing over a particular shade of green.

"You only like it because you're Slytherin." Harry stated.

"Well yes, I am sure that plays into it, but it really brings out your eyes." Draco commented, holding up the length of fabric to the young savior's face.

Harry shook his head. "It's silk though, there's no need for an entire ensemble made from silk."

Draco looked as if he'd been slapped. "Everything but the trousers. You need a good set of robes for public appearances and whatnot."

They turned to Severus and Harry asked, "What do you think?"

The man studied the two young men before him and nodded. "I agree with Draco."

"You traitorous git!" Harry shouted. "I bet you don't own one scrap of silk clothing."

Draco's grin grew wide. "You obviously haven't seen his holiday wardrobe."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It had taken the trio nearly two hours to complete the young savior's - now extensive - wardrobe. With comments from Draco on every little thing, it didn't go by nearly as quickly as Harry thought it should have.

"It's too late to... Eat at home... Elves aren't expecting... No food is made..." Severus informed them. "Seeing as Hogwarts will be... Closing for staff tomorrow... We should head back to... The manor... But first supper."

Draco nodded in agreement, and Harry piped up. "I know this great muggle diner right near the Leaky." He offered.

"I'd prefer not to... Have to change clothes..." Snape chided, motioning towards his robes.

"Right then." Harry said, knowing the man was right and they would all have to change if they were to go into that establishment.

Draco tilted his head to the side. "Hey, what about trying out that new place that just opened a few weeks back here on Diagon Alley?"

"Oh, you mean Farcey's?" Harry asked. Receiving a nod, he added, "Well I see no harm in it. What about you Snape?"

"I don't care." The man answered.

The decision being made, they found their way to Farcey's, a nice small establishment that served nearly any type of food one could imagine. When the trio entered, one of the waitresses gasped. "The Death Eaters are kidnapping Mr. Potter!"

Severus and Draco glared at the scene she'd just caused - though it wasn't much of one as they were the only customers there - and Harry laughed at her idiocy. "They are not Death Eaters. They were spies for the light, and I am treating them to dinner for their bravery." He schooled his face to appear serious. "It would behoove you to treat these heroes with the respect they deserve."

She nodded fiercely, and showed them to a seat. Draco asked in a hushed tone, "Why do you keep doing that? Taking up for us I mean."

Harry smirked. "Two reasons. One, it would do absolutely no good for my chances at staying in your residence if I allowed people to walk all over you. Two, what I said was absolutely true. I may think you're both utter bastards, and cruel when you want to be, but without you two, we couldn't have won the war." He picked up a menu and proceeded to browse the selection.

"Potter, your reasoning... Is astounding..." Severus commented.

When the waitress came back looking quite apologetic, they placed their orders and she nodded, telling them their food would be out in about 30 minutes.

"Why is it going to take so long?" Draco wondered aloud. "And why on earth do we have a woman asking what we want, instead of just tapping our wand and having house-elves bring it out to us?"

Harry shook his head. "You nitwit. The owners of this establishment are muggle-born, and they run the place like a muggle restaurant. The only magic they use is to get the ingredients they would need for their recipes. Don't you recognize the name? Farcey? Joanne Farcey, she was a muggleborn 6th year when we started Hogwarts."

"Hey, I didn't know. I never paid attention to any of the other years in school." Draco replied.

"We need to cover rules... For you staying at the Manor." Severus stated. He motioned to the blond. "Let's see if you... remember them all."

Rolling his eyes, Draco spoke as if he were reading a grocery list. "No loud music, unless it's classical and played in the dining hall. No inviting friends over unless approved by Uncle Severus at least 3 days beforehand. No pets as there's already a snake living there and Uncle Severus doesn't want Serenity to get indigestion. And no 'flings' are to take place under his roof. If you find a girl you like, date her like a proper gentleman, and try to keep her as far away from the manor as possible."

Harry snorted a bit. "I doubt that last one will be a problem." He muttered.

"What, the ladies getting tired of flinging themselves at the Boy-Who-Lived?" Draco teased.

"No no, they still continue to fling themselves at me. I just have no interest in them." Harry smirked. "They're mostly a bunch of brainless bimbos who want to have my children so they can claim bragging rights to shagging the savior. I've already got three marriage proposals by owl since I kicked Voldy's arse."

"What about Miss Weasley?" Severus asked, wondering what the young girl had done to make him dislike her so.

"She's worse than the anonymous loons begging for my hand. She's known me years, yet the only reason she wants me is because I'm Harry Bloody Potter. It's got nothing to do with who I am as a person. She can go sod off with the rest of them."

"I must say... I tend to find this new... Harry Potter to be... More favorable than... The whimpering scared... Child you were before." Snape complimented in a round about sort of way. "What changed?"

Draco took his turn to snort at the absurdity. "He's been this way since last year. He just didn't show it as much."

Nodding, Harry elaborated. "I decided to stop listening to what everyone told me and be my own person. If anyone didn't like what I chose to do, they would have to learn to get over it. After I mourned Sirius' death I realized I needed to step up and do what was best for me as a person. To do that I had to kill Voldy and get him off my case so the rest of the world would get off my case as well and leave me alone to figure out who I wanted to be. Didn't quite work out that way though." He sighed. "Now, it seems as though the rest of the world is going to ride me harder."

The waitress brought them out their food, and apologized to the men accompanying Harry for her words earlier, stating that she'd had no idea they were spies for the light.

"Of course you didn't." Harry stated. "It wouldn't have done them much good if everyone knew they were spies, now would it? Word would have gotten around to old Snake-Face and he'd have killed them."

* * *

><p>The next morning, Harry woke up in the bed in one of the guest bedrooms at Snape Manor. Rubbing his eyes, he threw the covers from him, and groggily got up to find a bathroom. He kicked a box that had apparently been delivered to his room, effectively stubbing his toe. "Shit." He grumbled as he made his way to the en-suite bathroom.<p>

A good shower and shave later, and he found himself downstairs at a table in the kitchen with an agitated Draco. "You really should have said something about all of the mail you'd be getting." The blond complained.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, nursing a cup of coffee.

"It seems as though the ministry has... Been sorting through your mail while... You were at Hogwarts. They sent a large bag here... With instructions to check every parcel for... Hexes, spells, jinxes, and such..." Severus stated.

"So now I have to go through all of this?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at the large bag that looked as if it held over 1000 letters. "I'll pay you each 5 galleons an hour to help me go through it all." He offered.

Never turning down money, Draco accepted, but Severus denied, stating that he would rather not deal with the public in any form, even if it is just letters.

Around three hours later, Draco and Harry were done, and the latter handed the former 15 galleons. "I've sorted them into piles based on their content." The blond said. "This pile is for people asking for your hand in marriage."

"Burn it." Harry ordered.

Casting a quick incendio, Draco continued. "This pile is people's wills that have you stated as some sort of heir."

"Set it aside, I'll go through them later." The young savior stated.

Nodding and pushing the pile to the side, Draco went on. "This pile is people claiming to be your relatives."

Harry shook his head. "If they were my relatives they would have come out before I started getting named in people's wills. Burn it."

"Actually, there is one I believe." Draco said, pulling a sheet of white paper with blue lines on it. "I think it's written on muggle parchment." He stated.

Harry leaned back in his chair. "Read it to me, would you? My eyes hurt."

"I am not your slave Potter." Draco stated.

"I'll give you another galleon." Harry said.

"Money first." The blond responded. When he was handed the golden coin, he started to read.

_Dear Harry,_

_This is your cousin. You probably don't know this yet, but Daddy's died. Mummy said she still wants nothing to do with you._

_I don't know how fast that owl will bring this to you. I hope it gets there within the next week though. Anyways, as I said before, Daddy died two days ago. His funeral is going to be held this weekend on Saturday. I don't expect you'll come, but I wanted to fill you in. _

_Mummy's disowned me for trying to make her apologize to you for treating you like filth these past 17 years. I wanted to tell you that I only acted as I did because Daddy threatened hurt me if I treated you right. I never felt good Harry Hunting with Piers, but Piers did though. You'll be happy to know that once Daddy died, I broke off the friendship with that arse. _

_Up until almost 3 years ago, I thought the way we were treating you was alright. Then I thought that if I had been treated like that I would have run away. I realized I was wrong though, cause you were brought up that way, it was all you knew._

_Why didn't you run away when you started that magic school? You should have. Or when that bunch of red-heads rescued you, you should have stayed with them. Your life might have turned out less sucky for it. _

_Anyways, I wanted to write you originally because you left one of your notebooks at home with some of your clothes. When Mummy went to burn your things, I found the notebook, and kept it for you so she couldn't destroy it. I still live at Privet Drive, but Mummy's moved out, saying she couldn't bear to stay. It's safe to send an owl with a reply. _

_By the way, two people came by today looking for you. They were dressed in those weird robes and said they couldn't find you at that school. They didn't give me their names, but one of them I remember from that flying car. I think he has a twin. The other one had the same red hair, but it was curly and he seemed annoying. I thought you might want to know. I told them I hadn't seen you since last summer. _

_Harry, I really need to talk you, face to face. I found something in the attic a few weeks back that I think you should have. It was a right bitch trying to keep Mummy from getting ahold of it. Plus I need to return that notebook to you. See me when you can._

_~Dudley_

Harry sat there rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. After a minute or so, he spoke hoarsely. "I can't believe he's writing to me."

"So it is real then?" Draco asked.

Harry nodded. "That was from my cousin Dudley. He was my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's son. I lived with them since my parents died. I'm going to go see him. Snape, and Draco, you can come with me if you want. I'm leaving in a few minutes after I get dressed. If you're coming, wear muggle clothes. I need to see if this is real or not."

Severus nodded his agreement and went to change. There was no way he was going to let the boy go on his own when this was a good chance to peer into the young savior's past. Even if he did dislike the young man, he wasn't going to pass this opportunity up. Draco agreed as well, and they all met back in the sitting room.

"We'll take the floo to Mrs. Figg's house." Harry informed them, taking a handful of floo powder. He called out for Arabella's house, and they all went through, making their way to number 4 Privet Drive.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Petunia was coming out of the house, looking quite angry. She noticed Harry and the two other men behind him, and walked directly up to them. "I hope you're happy with yourself, freak. You went and brainwashed my Duddykins. He keeps trying to make me apologize for treating you like exactly what you are, an abnormal freakish creature." She slapped the young man in front of her and stormed off to her car.

Draco had pulled his wand, but Harry held him back. "Don't. She's not worth it." He muttered. As Petunia drove off, they made their way to the door, and Harry knocked.

A voice called out, "I told you I'm not letting you back in until you apologize to Harry!"

"Dudley, it's me." Harry called out.

A thundering noise was heard and the door unlocked then swung open. "Harry! That was quick. I only sent the letter yesterday."

"Owl post is very fast." Draco informed him.

"Oh hello. Come in then, all of you." Dudley ushered the three wizards into his home and shut the door behind them, locking it to keep his mother out. "Now, I am sure you're here about the notebook." He said. "I've got it in the kitchen. I have to admit that I went through it a bit. It was a way of trying to connect to you."

"Oh Merlin." Harry groaned. "Tell me it wasn't the journal that you found."

"Afraid it was cousin." Dudley smiled. "No worries though, I didn't tell mum that you're gay."

Draco's eyes widened. "You're gay?"

Harry buried his face into his hands and sat down at the kitchen table muttering, "Thanks Dudley."

Severus scoffed. "Of course he is." He said, his voice gravely. "Didn't you hear him yesterday... When he was talking about those women... Who flung themselves at him?"

"Well yes I heard, but he didn't say a thing about being gay." The blond stated. "Oh well. Don't worry about it Potter. You're not the only gay one here."

The others took seats at the table as well, and Harry chuckled. "Oh yes, like I couldn't have told you were gay the way you lit up when I agreed to let you pick out my wardrobe?"

Dudley looked on in something akin to amusement. He finally took notice of Harry, who was wearing a pair of deep black trousers and a silk green loose-fitted button-up shirt. "Damn Harry, it's nice to see you in something other than my old cast-offs. You look good."

"Thank you." Draco took the credit, smiling as if he'd just been given the compliment himself. "I picked out the fabric. I told you the silk would look nice."

Harry chuckled. "Alright, before you go spilling any more secrets from my journal, tell me what you found in the attic."

Dudley nodded and went to the desk in the hallway, pulling a small book from the drawer. "I glanced through it, it looks like a family tree for Mum's family, but it has words like, 'Muggle', 'Witch', 'Wizard', and 'Squib'. It says mummy was a squib, but your mum was a witch, and their parents were also squibs. It says daddy was a muggle, and you're a Wizard. What I don't get though, is for me, it says I'm half squib and half wizard."

"That's impossible." Severus stated.

"No it does. Look!" Dudley protested, handing them the book turned to the page which held him and his parents.

Glancing over it, Severus hmmm'd to himself. "It doesn't say you're half and half... It says you're borderline between squib... and wizard. In other words... if something traumatic were to happen to you... it would bring out your... repressed magic."

"That's amazing." Harry said.

"Why do you have to take breaths like that in the middle of your sentences?" Dudley asked the man in all black.

When all he received was a glare, Harry answered for him. "When I killed Voldemort, he was attacked by a very large snake. It bit into his throat and almost killed him. His throat is still healing some, and he's supposed to keep talking to build the muscles in his voice-box back up."

Dudley's eyes widened. "You killed someone?"

Harry groaned. "I forgot you didn't know that."

Draco scoffed. "You never told your family about yourself, did you Potter?"

"No I didn't. Since you seem to know all about me, why not fill him in yourself, prat." Harry answered shortly.

Rolling his eyes, Draco complied. "Potter here is the savior of our world." He paused for effect and Dudley's eyes widened.

Harry shook his head. "Don't leave him hanging. Tell him the rest. I'll make some lunch."

"Ohh awesome, I love your cooking Harry. Never got the chance to say it before, but you make a wonderful chef." Dudley called out.

Severus raised an eyebrow and Draco continued. "Anyways, Potter's family was killed when he was a baby by this insane man named Voldemort. He killed them because of a prophesy told by a divination professor who was wrong 99% of the time. Voldemort died when he tried to kill Potter to upset the prophesy, and the baby lived. Potter grew up and went through 6 years of magical training and education at Hogwarts, it was supposed to be seven years but this last one he dropped out in favor of hunting horcruxes. During his time at Hogwarts, Voldemort came back to life thanks to his soul being broken into several bits and put into objects, thus making said horcruxes, and he was resurrected by his loyal followers. He was trying to kill all of the muggles and muggle-born witches and wizards. Potter killed him like a week and a half ago, hopefully for the last time, and he is the savior of the wizarding world. Not a witch or wizard alive who doesn't know his name, and it's been that way since his parents were killed."

"Yes, and now I have people I don't know trying to get me to marry them." Harry called from the kitchen.

"Wicked." Dudley said. "I'm glad you have something going right in your life though. You deserve it after all the shit you put up with from us."

"But we don't think he's all that, do we Uncle Severus?" Draco asked.

"Severus? Are you Severus Snape?" Dudley asked the man in black.

The stoic man nodded a bit. "He's spoken of me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh no, never aloud, if he talked about anything magic related he'd be locked up. I read about you in his journal. It's a pleasure to meet you Sir." Dudley said, extending his hand.

"What did you write about me Potter?" The man demanded.

Harry scoffed. "Oh you know, the usual. How you hated me and scared the crap out of me first year in Potions."

Dudley laughed. "He did say you hated him, but he also said he respected you for refusing to treat him like the others did. What did you do differently? He never went into it."

Harry came back carrying four plates filled with food. "Snape never gave in to my fame. I've had the fame since my parents died, for simply being the boy-who-lived. The curse that gave me this scar was meant to kill me, but it didn't. Snape never treated me like something special because of it, even though all of the other teachers did." He offered. "Instead, he treated me like a fly because my father was a bastard."

Snape's eyebrows shot up. "I never expected to hear you... call your father something like that."

Harry chuckled darkly. "Why not? He was a bastard. After seeing how he acted, I know that now. Sirius was no better." He stated angrily.

Both Severus and Draco grasped their arms and winced, Severus hissing a bit, and Draco yelping out.

"Bloody hell, what was that all about?" Dudley asked when they stopped.

Harry shook his head. "I forgot I did that. Those two were spies for the light side. They were marked by Voldemort, and when I killed the bastard I got his magic. Thanks to that, now whenever I have a strong emotion, those two feel the repercussions of it through their marks that Voldemort put on them."

"What kind of mark?" Dudley asked.

"It's like a tattoo." Harry offered. "Can one of you show him?"

Draco nodded and lifted his sleeve to show the dark mark. Dudley's eyes widened. "Hey, I saw a man with that on his arm hanging around here a few days back."

"What did he look like?" Severus demanded, the tone of his voice showing that the young man had better answer him.

"Uhh, he was tall, blond like him." He said pointing to Draco. "He had long hair, a pointy nose, and walked with a cane."

"Shit... Father.." Draco gasped out.

"Did he say anything?" Harry asked.

Dudley almost shook his head, but stopped himself. "He did, he was muttering about knowing he would find someone here, and why weren't they here yet."

"Shit shit shit shit shit." Draco said. "We have to get out of here, now!"

"Agreed." Severus stated.

"Dudley, you're coming with us. If he's hanging around, he already knows you'd be my cousin, and if he's here with enough backup, he'll kill us all. We can't just walk out there, there might be a trap."

"We shall apparate... You will bring your cousin... For side-along apparation..." Severus informed them, standing up.

"Where to?" Draco asked.

A loud cracking noise was heard suddenly, and the four men found themselves face to face with two very angry Death Eaters who had their wands drawn. The male spoke. "Ahh Draco. Helping the enemy I see?"

"The only enemy here is you." The young man answered.

"Now now little Draco, don't talk back to your Father." The female scolded, then cackled madly. "You four will be coming with us."

Harry thought quickly for a moment, then decided to have his first lesson in making certain death eaters feel the burning from their marks, and others not. He focused his anger on Bella and Lucius. It wasn't enough though.

"The Dark Lord calls!" Bella cackled. "I can feel him! Come on Lucius, let's get the traitors."

As Bella and Lucius rose their wands to the throats of Severus and Draco, Harry shouted, "STOP!" And his anger mounted, causing the two Death Eaters to fall to the ground in pain.

Snape and Draco felt some pain, but not nearly as much, and Severus quickly put the two intruders in body binds. They each took one, and Harry drug a stunned but coherent Dudley along with them. "Let's get these two to the Ministry." Harry called out.

* * *

><p>"I already told you, they apparated into his kitchen." Draco yelled.<p>

The auror looked on at him in suspicion. "And you expect me to believe that you didn't tip him off? He is your dad after all."

Harry barged into the room. "What the hell is taking so long?" He demanded, Severus and Dudley following in behind him.

"They think I told father where we were going." Draco stated, anger lacing his voice.

"Impossible." Harry stated. "He didn't even know the location we were visiting until we got there."

The auror shook his head. "I'm sorry Mr. Potter, but I believe that he somehow told Lucius Malfoy of your location and set up the attack. He was a Death Eater after all, and he still holds the mark to prove it."

"He was a spy you idiotic excuse for human life. If it weren't for these two," He said, motioning towards Severus and Draco, "We wouldn't have won the war, and Voldemort would still be at large. Besides, Lucius had found out where I had lived some other way. He was spotted there a few days back searching for me."

The auror growled and narrowed his eyes. "I demand proof."

Dudley took his turn. "I saw the man there a few days ago. I can take you to where I saw him."

"Why not extract his memory?" Severus asked.

Harry and Draco both nodded their agreement. Harry spoke, "Get his memory and view it in a pensive for proof."

"Will getting the memory hurt?" Dudley asked. The auror looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"He's a new wizard." Harry informed the auror. "He's only just found out that he holds magic and he's never set foot in the wizarding world before. Cut him some slack." He turned to Dudley. "It wont hurt, but it will be slightly uncomfortable." He informed his cousin.

The auror agreed and they set out to locate and remove the memory. After extensive viewing by three aurors, and a member of the Wizengamot, they declared that both Dudley and Draco told the truth.

Before the four men stepped outside, Harry held them back. "Dudley, I'm going to let you know now, people are going to recognize me, so don't be surprised if someone comes up and started babbling at us." His cousin nodded and they went on their way.

They slowly made their way to Flourish and Blotts, every few minutes another person coming up and congratulating Harry on his victory over Voldemort, some people even shaking his hand furiously. He tried desperately to ignore them, and when one man refused to leave him alone, Harry snapped at him.

"Listen here Sir," He said rather loudly. "I will be at The Hog's Head in an hour to make a public announcement. Please, go wait for me there and I will fill you in when I arrive." A group of people rushed off to the pub and Draco stood shaking his head.

"You're not going, are you?" The blond asked.

"Going where?" Harry replied, smirking mischievously.

As they entered Flourish and Blotts, Severus locked the door behind them, thankful that again no other customers were present. The manager came out from behind his desk. "Why have you locked my doors against customers?" He demanded.

Harry turned to see him. "Ahh, there you are." He said, as if the man had been missing. "I need a book that will tell us how to bring out someone's innate magic without something traumatizing happening."

"Ahh a borderline squib then. Of course Mr. Potter." The manager said before going off to search for a book.

"You weren't kidding when you said people would recognize you." Dudley whispered to his cousin.

"Why are you whispering?" Draco asked.

"This isn't a library?" Dudley asked.

Severus snorted and Harry chuckled. "No, it's a book store. You don't need to whisper. And you are absolutely correct, I was in no way joking. I think I am going to have house-elves do all of my shopping from here on out. I am getting tired of the people."

"Here you are Mr. Potter, that will be 1 galleon and 3 sickles." Harry paid the man and they made their way back to Snape Manor.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Look, I'll pay rent for him as well, same as me, and I'll even pay for groceries. He can't stay in Surrey, Death Eaters will kill him." Harry pleaded.

"Fine... As long as I do not have to... Continue to listen to your babbling... For another two hours, he can stay." Severus gave in, then started thumbing through the book Potter had bought earlier.

Harry smiled, a triumphant look crossing his face. Draco shook his head. "You should have just offered the money first, and you wouldn't have had to argue so long." He muttered.

"What's a house-elf?" Dudley asked, remembering the comment from earlier that day.

Harry smiled. "Dobby!" He called out.

Severus groaned and the excitable house-elf popped into the room. "Master Harry Potter Sir, Dobby is pleased to see you. What can Dobby do for you?"

The young savior turned to Dobby. "My cousin is going to need some clothes. Can you please go back to 4 Privet Drive and gather some of his belongings? Try not to be seen." He asked.

"Oh yes Sir Master Harry Potter Sir, Dobby can." He turned to Dudley. "Is there anything else Master Harry Potter Sir's cousin will be needing?"

"Uhhh." Dudley started. "No, just my clothes. And my wallet. It's on the desk in the hallway." He said.

Dobby nodded then popped off. "What did you mean back to the house?" Dudley asked.

"Oh, Dobby was the one that dropped the cake on that woman those years ago. He was trying to keep me from going back to Hogwarts." Harry informed him.

Dobby appeared again a few minutes later, a pile of clothes neatly folded stacked on the ground, and a wallet on top of them. He popped out again after a bow, and Dudley stared at the pile before him. "That was quick." He said.

"I found something." The dark wizard stated, laying the book down on the table. "A potion to bring out one's... Dormant magical ability."

Harry and Draco looked over the potion and noted that two of the ingredients were quite rare. "Ugh, great." The blond said. "Where are we going to get two phoenix tears and a basilisk's scale?"

"Fawkes for the tears. I kept a few scales and a bit of blood from the basilisk I killed in second year, they're in my trunk at Hogwarts." Harry informed them.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Is the scale in good condition?" He asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I kept it in a plastic bag."

"A what?" Draco asked. "I know what a bag is, but what is a plastic bag?"

"It's a bag made of plastic and you put things in it." Harry said shaking his head. "It keeps the dirt and other things away. Anyway, before we go to Hogwarts, I need to take Dudley by Gringotts and set up a vault for him to use. If we plan on making him release his inner magic, he will need supplies and he will need to pay for them."

"Who are you going to get to tutor him?" Draco asked.

Harry leaned back and thought for a moment. "That hadn't crossed my mind." He admitted.

"You have a mind?" Severus asked sarcastically.

Harry's upper lip curled a bit. "Sod off you git. I'm being serious. I don't know who would tutor him. I guess you and I will Malfoy."

"Oi! You can't just go and sign me up for things." Draco huffed. "Besides, why not get that girl Granger to do it?"

"That's actually fairly brilliant for someone who barely got 'P's in their classes." Harry jabbed.

"I only got the one 'P'. Everything else was 'E's except for potions, that was an, 'O'." The blond tried.

"Yes, and the only reason you got an 'O' was because you were so busy destroying my potions that you never noticed Pansy was the one doing all your work." Harry called back.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Children please. Can we just go... And get this over with?"

Draco stuck his tongue out at Harry, who in turn, flipped him off.

"What's a basilisk?" Dudley asked, eliciting a groan from Harry.

* * *

><p>Snape stood behind the young men in Gringotts lost in thought. He was half listening to the conversation between Griphook and Dudley, in which the goblin was trying to inform the young man about the currency exchange. Suddenly, he became aware of someone calling out his name. "What?" He grumbled.<p>

"Hey, no need to get snappy, I was just trying to let you know we were done. You spaced out there for a minute." Harry defensively said.

"I am not, 'snappy'." The dark wizard replied.

"You know, you're a lot less scary than Harry's journal made you out to be." Dudley commented.

Without missing a beat, Severus replied, "That's because I'm not teaching you... And I happen to be quite mellow... During the summer in comparison."

"I have to agree with him." Harry said. "He is very mellow right now. It's almost like he's stoned."

Draco looked confused. "What do you mean stoned?"

Dudley flashed a knowing smile and Harry filled Draco in. "When someone is stoned, it means they've taken a drug to change their demeanor."

"Indeed." Severus said, smirking at the young men before him.

"A drug? Like medicine?" Draco asked.

"Sort of." Harry said. "Usually, when muggles say someone is stoned, they're talking about being high on cannabis. They smoke it and it mellows them out."

"Oh, cannabis is used in some medical potions." Draco commented.

Harry raised an eyebrow and looked towards Snape. Dudley commented, "So it's easy to get then?"

Harry's gaze immediately reset on his cousin. "Why Duddykins, I didn't know you were a pot-head."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me cousin." Dudley replied, flashing his best innocent grin, which caused Harry chuckle and Severus to smirk.

They found themselves at Hogwarts and Dudley was taking in all that was around him. "Get your trunk and hurry Potter... Then go find Granger..."

Harry nodded and did so. A second year Ravenclaw came up to Snape, Dudley, and Draco. "Uhm.. E-excuse me. Professor S-Snape?" She asked.

The man in question lowered his gaze to the young girl and lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

"I was l-looking for you yesterday... The summer homework you g-gave us... It's quite hard... I was w-wondering if you gave us another year's homework." She stuttered out.

The man held out his hand, and the young girl put the parchment into it, then stepped back. Snape glanced over it, then handed it back to the girl. "Miss Sarkol, this homework is correct... It should only be difficult for those who... Haven't studied it as they should have... In the future, it would behoove you to... Use that brain which got you into Ravenclaw... And stop asking silly questions... The next time you feel it necessary... To question my teaching ability... Don't." He glared at the girl who nodded, bit her lip, and ran off.

"Sir, you let her off easy." Draco said. "You'd best not let your mellow demeanor ruin your reputation."

"Indeed Mr. Malfoy." Severus replied. "And would you like to be scrubbing... the cauldrons tonight, or would you... Prefer washing potion vials?"

"Nevermind, I didn't say a thing." Draco chimed innocently.

Harry and Hermione came bounding back. "Excuse me Professor Snape." She said. "Is it true what Harry just asked me?"

"That depends on what the boy asked." Severus replied.

"That I would be coming to your home to tutor his cousin?" Hermione inquired.

"No." Snape replied. At Hermione's 'I told you so' look, he continued. "Mr. Dursley will be meeting you... At the Three Broomsticks inn... For your tutoring." That wiped the smug look off of her face quickly.

They made their way to the Headmistress' office and Harry asked McGonagall if he could attain two tears from Fawkes. The woman agreed after hearing the reasoning why, and they asked the phoenix politely, attaining said tears.

* * *

><p>Two evenings later, Harry and Severus were arguing quite feverishly over something, whatever it was Draco and Dudley had no idea.<p>

"You're a right bastard you know that?" Harry asked, storming around the sitting room.

"And you're an incompetent brat." Snape retorted.

"Why don't you stop fucking around, and say what's really on your mind?" The young savior demanded.

"You wish to inquire as to what I am thinking? Use that lump that takes residence in your head you call a brain! Stupid boy, have you no idea what this power could do?" Severus demanded.

"You're lucky I am learning to control who gets affected by my anger, or you'd be writhing on the ground right now."

Growling, Snape stormed off into his room, slamming the door behind him. Draco went up to Harry and asked, "So what was that all about?"

Harry shook his head. "I developed a new power today."

"So I gathered." Draco said, prompting the young man before him to continue explaining.

"I got agitated and-" Harry started before Snape returned carrying something.

"Calm yourself down you stupid boy before you kill us all." He demanded, handing a lit pipe to the young man in front of him.

Harry looked at the man, then to the pipe, took it, and took a drag. A smile spread on his face as he held his breath for a moment, then exhaled. He continued to puff for a few minutes until he was interrupted.

"Well, what happened?" Draco demanded.

Harry raised an eyebrow to Snape, who rolled his eyes and nodded slightly. Taking another quick drag, he handed the pipe back to Snape. "I got mad and Snape flew across the room." He informed Draco.

Snape put out the contents of the pipe and banished it back to his room. "It seems as though he has attained the Dark Lord's ability to move objects without touching them or even thinking of a spell."

The small group chatted for a bit, then Draco left to take Dudley to his first lesson at the Three Broomsticks.

"Why are you such an arse?" Harry asked the man who sat across from him.

"Because it appeases me to be so." Snape answered him.

"Hey, can I cook tonight?" Harry asked.

Severus raised a sardonic eyebrow at the young man. "Are you able to refrain from poisoning us?" He asked. At the eye roll and nod he received, he gave his approval. "Alright then. Have at it."

Harry thanked the man and went into the kitchen to begin preparations. Around two hours later, Dudley and Draco returned, the former complaining. "I don't see why she's making me learn these when I don't even have any magic yet."

"Because you dunce, you need to learn theory before you put it to use practically. And you have magic, it's just dormant." Draco replied.

Dudley had gotten used to the young boy's jabs, but never returned them. As they walked into the sitting room, Dudley smelled the cooking. "Ahhh Harry's making dinner then?" He asked.

Snape nodded, and Draco smelled the air, then sighed hungrily. "Good. Nothing at the pub looked good so we waited to eat."

Hearing voices from the next room, Harry called out, "Hey, Draco, come here."

Walking into the kitchen, Draco mock-bowed. "At your service Master." He straightened himself. "What do you want?"

"I want to know if there's any way you can get me out of speaking at the Ministry tomorrow." Harry replied. "Some goon got it stuck in his head that I need to make a speech, and even had the Minister sign papers ordering me to appear there and even take in some question and answer time. Papers with the summons are on the table over there."

Draco went to the table and sat down to read the letter. After a considerable amount of thought, he stated, "I can get you out of making the speech, but not the Q n A." He said.

"Good, then do it. I would rather deal with questions than make some god awful speech." Harry replied, then called out, "DINNER'S READY!"

As the other two entered the room, Draco continued. "We will need to have a mock Q n A tonight to prepare your answers. And you will be wearing that green silk robe-set we got you earlier." He handed the papers to Snape, who scanned over them.

"Alright then. After dinner?" Harry asked. Draco agreed.

"I would like to sit in on this as well." Snape commented.

"Why Snapey, I didn't know you cared." Harry jibed.

The man growled. "Do not call me that. I do not care, I simply want to watch you make a fool of yourself."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Harry took to the podium that had been set out for him after it was explained that he would not make a speech, but would answer questions. As soon as he took his spot, a woman called out, "Is it true that you're mingling with Death Eaters?"

"No. I would not associate myself with someone of that standing. I am, however, in the company of two men who acted as Death Eaters, but were in fact, spies for the light." He answered.

Quills were writing down his answer, and a man called out, "Do you plan on running for Minister for Magic?"

"Not in the near future. I believe that Minister Shaklebolt will be doing a wonderful job."

Another man called out, "When is your wedding set for?"

Harry looked quite confused. "I am not planning a wedding. I am not currently engaged to anyone, and do not plan to be any time soon."

"So you deny the article written in the Daily Prophet stating that you and Ginerva Weasley are in a relationship?" A woman asked.

"I deny that, yes. Miss Weasley and I are in no relationship other than friendship." Harry answered.

A woman stepped through the crowd. A woman that Harry knew well. "Mr. Potter," She started, smiling wickedly, "Are you excited about the release of the tell-all book documenting you school days?"

Harry schooled his features, and rose an eyebrow. "I am afraid I do not know of the book you are speaking of Miss Skeeter."

"Oh, so good you remember me." She said. "A statement has been released by someone who wishes to remain anonymous that they will be releasing a book about your school-life in a few months time after they've finished the last section detailing all recent events."

"I have heard nothing of this book before. I doubt anyone but myself could release an accurate telling of my life, so no I am not excited, nor am I worried. It will most likely amount to the same dribble that passes for readable in your very own paper." He answered.

"Mr. Potter." A man called out. "How did you kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"His name was Voldemort, and it would do you good to stop fearing the name, and simply use it. I did not kill him alone, in fact I had much help from Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy, and Neville Longbottom. If you insist on crediting me with Voldemort's death, you should also credit those people, as without every single one of them, we would still be under Voldemort's reign of terror."

"Do you mean to say that you will be bringing in a new reign?" A woman asked.

"I would certainly hope so." Harry answered honestly.

"Are you going to take the name of Lord Black?" A man asked.

"Please elaborate, I fear I do not understand the question."

The man went on. "When Sirius Black died, he stated you in his will as his heir. When he was cleared posthumously, his will was activated as Lord Black, and since you are his heir, you would take the title if you chose."

Harry stepped back and whispered to Draco who was standing beside him. "What do I say? I had no idea about this."

The blond whispered back, "Tell them you will speak to the goblins about it. That way you can't be forced into anything."

Stepping back to the podium, Harry answered, "I will go to Gringotts and speak with one of the esteemed goblins that run the bank about it." He answered. A small bell rung, and he thought, _Saved by the bell. _"Thank you for your questions, my time is up." He walked backstage and the small group apparated away.

* * *

><p>"I don't see how I allowed you to talk me into this." Severus stated, sitting at a table in a private room across from Harry in Gringotts.<p>

"It was easy. You were stoned at the time." The young man replied cheekily.

A goblin came into the room and introduced himelf as Nagnok. Quickly behind him was Griphook carrying an armload of papers. "Ahh, Lord Potter, it's a pleasure to see you. You've been appearing here quite often of late."

Harry nodded. "This is Severus Snape, he will be here to fill me in on things I don't understand to take some of the burden off of you two. As I was muggle-raised, I fear there is quite a bit that I may not understand."

"Yes Lord Potter." Griphook stated. "As you know, this meeting is to discuss whether or not you take the name of Lord Black, but I also wish to speak with you about the many other wills that list you as their only heir."

Harry nodded. "What would taking the name of Lord Black entail?"

Nagnok took this question. "It would keep Miss Lestrange from claiming hold over all of the Black affairs. There is number 12 Grimmuald Place, and Black Manor. The two are separate. There are also several vaults that have been compounded into one."

"What exactly does 'compounded' mean?" Harry asked.

Griphook took his turn. "The gold from one vault is put into another." Harry still looked a bit confused though.

Severus spoke. "When vaults are compounded, that means that someone in the family has died, and their allowance has been essentially called back to the main vault." Harry nodded and motioned for the goblins to continue.

"You would also have control over what the Lestrange family could take out of the Black vaults. At the moment, they are in complete control over them, until someone claimed the title of Lord or Lady Black." Nagnok explained.

"Would I be allowed control over the vaults without taking on the name of Lord Black?"

"No." Both of the goblins and Severus answered at once.

As details were discussed, Harry was keeping a mental list of the pros and cons of accepting the name. Eventually, he made his decision... Three hours later.

"Alright. I will accept the title of Lord Black under the condition that this remain out of the public ear, and the same goes for the other titles." Harry stated. The goblins, of course, agreed and papers were signed. "My first act of business as Lord Black is to revoke the control the Lestrange family holds over the vaults."

Harry and Snape found their way to Grimmuald Place, and entered the pitiful excuse for a home. It had been almost destroyed. Kreacher greeted them. "Welcome back Mr. Potter." The extremely bitter house-elf had grown to stop hating Harry when the young man showed him kindness. Now, he simply regarded the savior as someone who was there.

"Thank you Kreacher. I have been informed that Sirius left everything to me in his will, and as he was cleared of all charges, I am now Lord Black." The young man explained.

Kreacher's eyes widened a bit, and he bowed. "Apologies Lord Black, Kreacher was... not expecting that news."

"No need to treat me any differently Kreacher. I am still me." Harry smiled. He sent Kreacher on his way to gather some items of the Black Family, and made the way to the stairs. Passing by the portrait of Walburga Black, he heard the woman muttering.

"Filthy half-breed, taking over my home. Scum in my house."

Harry shook his head. "Mrs. Black, as Lord Black I am now of the ability to remove you from your perch should you continue to annoy me." He stated.

"You wouldn't dare! You're nothing but an annoying little half-breed, not even capable of making something of your own name, you have to go and steal another! If My husband were ali-"

She was cut off by Harry picking up the portrait and banishing it to the attic. "Why didn't you simply burn it?" Severus asked.

"Because, it would upset Kreacher. At least this way, he will know where to visit her when I inform him." Harry offered.

Kreacher came back, and dropped a robe bearing the crest of the House of Black on it, a ring, and a book into Harry's arms.

* * *

><p>Severus sat down in his favorite chair back at Snape Manor. Harry sat across from him and lay his head back. "Today was a very boring day." The younger man complained.<p>

"You are a very boring individual when you haven't got a Dark Lord to chase after." Snape said before he could stop himself.

"You're the boring one." Harry reprimanded. "You barely said a thing today, left me to do all of the talking."

"It wasn't I who accepted the name of Lord Black today. You were the one who needed to do all of the speaking."

"Yeah, well you could've taken me somewhere entertaining."

Severus glared at the young man. "And where could I have taken you Potter? To a pub perhaps? Or a shop?"

"No, the zoo or something." Harry offered, thinking fondly back on his first, and last, zoo visit. "I only ever went to a zoo once. I was 10. Set loose a snake accidentally."

"Yeah, and trapped me in its enclosure." Dudley said, strolling into the room.

Harry smiled wickedly. "That was quite a scare, wasn't it?"

Dudley nodded. "Especially since I didn't know the snake was out of it at the time. Thought you locked me in there with it."

"Well it served you right for beating the glass. Shouldn't have treated the poor thing like that." Harry chided.

"I actually agree." Dudley said.

"Say, when am I going to meet Serenity?" Harry asked Severus.

"Never." Snape answered. "I will not have you coddling my cobra."

"I wouldn't coddle her. I might pet her, but I wouldn't coddle." Harry said, trying to look as innocent as possible and failing miserably.

Draco came into the room holding a red envelope. "Potter, this came for you while you were out." He said, tossing the parcel to the young savior.

Harry opened it, then realized too little too late that it was a howler. Ginny's voice rang loud and clear in the sitting room.

_**Harry James Potter!**_

_**How DARE you tell the papers that we aren't in a relationship! We KISSED! Does that mean absolutely NOTHING to you? I went and told mum that we were getting married, and she got all excited and started making our wedding plans, then read the paper and saw what you said. She had the audacity to PUNISH ME! For LYING! I never lied. We are getting married Harry, just you wait.**_

It proceeded to then rip itself up. Dudley stared on. "That girl's a loon." He said.

"You kissed her?" Snape asked.

"Since when do you care about who I do or do not kiss? As a matter of fact, I did, and I hated it." Harry stated.

Severus thought to himself, _He's right. Since when do I care about who he does or does not kiss? What's the matter with me? Damn... I hate it when Harry's right._ "When the hell did he become Harry?" He muttered aloud without realizing.

"I don't know, when I was born?" The young man in questions asked.

"What?" Snape asked, his mask of indifference fading from his face for a second.

"You asked when I became Harry." The young savior informed him. "And I said, when I was born."

"I thought I thought that." Severus said, his eyes narrowing.

Draco chuckled and Harry shook his head. "I think you've smoked too much today." The latter stated.

"Agreed." Severus coincided. "And why on earth would I take you to a zoo?"

"Delayed reaction much?" Harry asked, laughing. "I have no idea, it was just a thought."

"A silly thought." The man said. "You're always full of silly ideas."

"Yeah, well at least I have ideas. You just do the same thing over and over."

Glaring at the young boy - no man - Severus stated, "I have a routine, which you have disrupted greatly with your notions of going places at the drop of a hat."

After a few more heated jabs back and forth, Harry yelled out, "You know, you make yourself very hard to like!"

"I never tried to be liked by anyone, much less you." Severus stated.

"It shows. You're a right bastard. I can't believe I thought- ARGH Nevermind!" Harry stormed off to his room.

"Not going to finish what you started Potter?" Snape called after him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Dudley finally got up to go after his cousin. He came back out soon clutching a bottle. "He's managed to drink some of this. I asked him how much, and he said the whole thing."

Snape took the bottle, then rolled his eyes. "Great, now we have to deal with a drunk Potter. This should be more entertaining than an angry one."

Draco's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the bottle's name. "He drunk the whole thing of Firewhiskey? My god, he's going to be sick tomorrow."

"Nu uh." Harry said, gripping the wall as he came back downstairs. "It'd take two t'make me sick."

Draco started to get up to help him, but Severus stopped him. "Let him fall, it'll teach him to get drunk when he's angry."

"Fuck you." Harry said, making his way slowly to the couch where he laid down with his head in a very stunned Draco's lap.

"Potter, what are you doing?" The blond demanded.

"I'm layin on ya." He said. "Why, you'd prefer me to acks.. acts... really lay you instead?"

Draco snorted. "You're not my type Potter."

"Good cause yer not mine either." The young savior stated.

Dudley shook his head. "I've never seen you drunk before." He stated.

"Yah ya have." Harry stated. "Once, last summer. I came home drunk. Vernon hit me good that day. Whacked me over the head with sumthin."

"Oi, I remember that. Daddy hit you with a rock. I had to sneak in your room that night to bring you the first aid kit, but you were out cold." Dudley remembered.

Harry lifted his head. "So you're the one who wrapped my head in gauze? I thought Petunia did that."

Dudley shook his head. "No, she would never. I was also the one who kept sneaking you food through your cat-flap."

"You ate through a cat-flap?" Severus asked disbelieving.

Harry snorted. "What's it to ya, you git?"

Dudley quickly stated, "Yeah, mum put a cat flap on his door so she wouldn't have to look at him when she brought him food every couple of days."

"You're kidding." Draco said wide-eyed.

"No an they kept locks on the door from th' outside. Couldn' get out." Harry added.

His cousin nodded a bit. "Yeah, I think the grand total was 8 locks last time I counted. But that was a year or so ago."

"New subject. This is makin' me mad." Harry stated. "Let's play truth or dare."

Draco grinned. "You're on. What about you Dudley? Wanna play?"

"Sure why not." The young man said. "Mr. Snape, are you playing as well?"

The dark wizard snorted. "Hardly. I shall stay here and watch to ensure you lot don't do anything that might destroy my home."

The three gathered round in a circle in front of the fireplace, Harry quickly conjuring some pillows to lay back on, as he was swaying by this point.

"Alright, I'll start." Draco said. "Dudley, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Aw you're no fun. Alright, do you have someone you like?"

Dudley blushed a bit and nodded. "Yeah, there was a girl I saw at that magic school, Hogwarts. She had pretty blonde hair, and looked like she was dreaming while she was walking."

Harry snorted. "Sounds like Luna." He said.

Draco used his wand and cast a quick portrait in the air of Luna. "Is this her?" Dudley nodded again and the blond chuckled. "Figures."

Dudley started up, "Alright, my turn. Harry, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Smirking maliciously, Dudley said, "Alright. Are you still crushing on that person you wrote about in your journal last year?"

Harry's eyes grew wide. "Shush! And yes."

"Ha, I knew it! So obvious." Dudley stated.

"Who is it?" Draco demanded.

"Don't you dare." Harry threatened.

"Why, does he crush on him as well?" Dudley asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, that 'ould just be gross. ANYWAYS! Draco, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you... Come here." Draco leaned in, and Harry whispered into his ear.

"WHAT? No way, he'll kill me!" The blond shouted.

"It was a dare." Harry said in a sing-song voice.

Sighing, Draco looked to Severus, and turned his body around. The man raised an eyebrow. "Do I dare ask?"

Draco just shook his head quickly, then cast a protection charm just in case. Suddenly a parchment appeared in his hands, and he started singing, "This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends. Some people, started singing it not knowing what it was, and they continued singing it forever just because, this is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends."

Severus cast a quick silencing charm on the boy and shook his head. "Potter, I was doing wonderfully for the past 30 years, and you just ruined it." He let up the silencing charm and the young man returned to his spot.

Harry burst into laughter, and even Dudley had to chuckle a bit. About 5 more rounds later, they got into the slightly heavier stuff.

"Dudley, truth or dare?" Draco asked.

"Dare."

"I dare you to lick that portrait." He said, pointing to a moving painting of a woman who appeared to be horrified at the prospect of being licked.

As Dudley went to complete his dare, Severus shook his head and massaged his temple. "I am glad I smoked today, or I would be incredibly angry with you right now Draco."

Returning from his task, Dudley grimaced, and called out, "Harry, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to tell Draco who it is you've got a crush on." Dudley said.

"No no no. Please, come up with something else." Harry pleaded.

Shaking his head, Dudley reminded his cousin at the words he'd used earlier. "It was a dare."

Harry crooked his finger, and brought Draco in for yet another whisper. "OH FUCKING MERLIN!" Draco exclaimed. "You have GOT to be kidding me!" Harry shook his head refusing to blush. "You're right about what you said earlier, that would be gross if I liked him that way."

"I'm surprised you're not laughing at me." Harry stated honestly.

"Potter, no, Harry. I would never laugh at you for having a crush on someone like that. I know what it's like to have a crush on someone those around you say you shouldn't." He said, putting a hand on the young savior's shoulder.

"Who have you got a crush on? Consider it your truth question." Harry said.

"Charlie Weasley." He stated. "Dragon tamer extraordinaire."

"Well, I think it's time you all go to bed. It's well past midnight, and I would like some sleep." Severus stated. As the young men made their way from the room, Severus called out, "Potter..." The young savior turned back and cocked his head to the side. "I wanted to say... You have not disrupted my routine. Truth be told, I have no routine, and some, 'shaking up', as Draco called it, is welcome." Harry flashed a bright smile, and Severus immediately regretted his words. "That is not to say that I am not angry at you anymore, I am still quite enraged by your choice to drown yourself in a bottle of alcohol to keep your emotions at bay."

Harry smirked a bit. "Like you do, Sir?"

Snape shook his head. "Yes... Like I do. It is not healthy."

"I promise not to do it again if you promise not to as well." Harry offered.

Raising an eyebrow, Severus glared. "Potter... Don't push your luck. Go to bed, I'm obviously getting a contact buzz from your breath, else I wouldn't be saying such nonsense."

* * *

><p>Severus lay in bed with the events of that night playing through his head. <em>Why on earth would I say such things to the boy?<em> _And then I had to go and tell him he wasn't a disruption. Well, he's not as much of one as I thought he would be, and he deserved the truth... But that never stopped me before from riling him up... Then again, he's not lived with me before. Merlin though, he's sexy when he's angry. _

The man shot up in his bed, his eyes wide. _Why the HELL did I think that? Potter is NOT sexy! Go to sleep Severus, stop thinking about this and it will all go away. Who am I kidding, he is sexy. He's grown into quite the fetching young man, and his personality has blossomed into something semi-respectable. He would never fall for me though._

Harry was also laying in his bed that night with the events of the evening before plaguing him. _God I wish Dudley had never brought that up. Now Draco knows who I like. I wish this stupid school-boy infatuation would just end. Shit... He would probably laugh at me if I told him. Tell me to go sod off or something, and kick me out. Why did I have to ask if I could live with him? Why couldn't I have just disappeared into Muggle London? Fuck... Maybe he could like me back... No, he would never fall for me._

The clock in the hall between their rooms chimed 2 am. _I wish I knew how he felt about me._ They both thought at the same time, and finally went off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"So when is the magic revealing thingy supposed to be ready?" Dudley asked three days after the rousing game of truth or dare that now allowed him the knowledge of what a magical portrait tastes like.

Severus glowered at the young man before him, internally scowling that someone more impatient than Potter existed. He pulled his robe over his head. "Within two days allotment we shall be able to commence the beginning stages of brewing this potion. Additionally, it shall take the same extent for the actual simmering process, and someone shall be appointed to take careful watch over the cauldron for every hour of the remaining duration."

Dudley stared at the man, not quite grasping what had been said. Draco was snickering, trying to help him with his first robe, which was magically enchanted to fit the young man, as after this horrid 'party' they'd been ordered to attend, they were going out to buy him his first set of near everything that most ordinary wizards would have owned since early childhood.

Harry saw the perplexed state that adorned his cousin's face. He took pity on the poor man. "Four days Dudley." He remarked, fastening the many buttons that adorned the robe which he would be wearing today, picked out by none other than one snarky potions master. _Really._ Harry thought. _Only HE would pick out something with as many buttons as this. Sometimes I swear he is trying to mold me into a younger version of himself._

"Oh, why didn't he just say so then?" Dudley appealed. "This feels like a dress."

Snape had just finished with his own buttons, his face remaining an impassive glare. "I believe that is precisely what I said." He muttered at the idiocy of the borderline squib in front of him.

"Don't mind Uncle Severus." Draco told the young man. "He always gets antsy before one of these things."

"He's not antsy." Harry appeared to be rising to the man's defense. "We're going to be mingling with students today, and he obviously has to slip into character, lest his magnificent reputation as dungeon bat be shattered. Why do you think he hasn't smoked this morning?" No, he was just getting a jab in at the man's obvious attempt to keep his feared appearance.

A small seething growl came from the throat of the man being spoken of. "I would suggest that you refrain from such comments until a time in which I have exposed myself to the wondrous calming effects of the only potion ingredient that allows my seldom experienced carnal bliss." He cast a few charms on his robes to keep away dirt, wrinkles, and liquids.

Harry was about to slip a snap-on tie onto his collar, when Snape stopped him. "What are you doing?"

The young savior glanced up at the man. "Putting on a tie." He stated.

"Pray tell, Potter, why are you using such a deplorable method to appear as if you have any class?" The man voiced, his eyebrow raising slightly.

Harry scoffed. "Because I don't know how to knot a real one. That should have been obvious."

Shaking his head, Severus went to his wardrobe and pulled out a satin blood red tie. "Come here." He ordered. "And undo your top four buttons on that robe."

Harry complied, muttering about ties choking him. Severus wrapped the smooth fabric around the young man's neck, slipping it under the white collar of his button-down shirt. His lengthy fingers brushing against the savior's neck and collarbone a few times as he made the knot, slipping fabric over and through itself. Tightening the properly placed tie, he patted it down, and ordered Harry to redo the buttons on his robe.

"Thanks." Harry responded, glancing at himself in the mirror. His face was hot, but luckily, he showed no signs of coloration in his cheeks, and was quite glad that he had *finally* mastered occulmency. It would not do for Snape to know what he was thinking at that moment.

He was jostled from his thoughts as Draco called out that it was time to go. _Damn, I forgot that those two were still in here._ Harry thought. _Geeze. That man sure knows how to make you feel like you're the only person in the world._

Stepping out of the floo quite gracefully, a skill he had attained only after defeating the Dark Lord, Harry rose his head high, quite pleased that he wouldn't have to check his tie every few minutes to ensure it was snapped on properly, as he had to do at many other occasions within Hogwarts' walls.

The foursome was greeted by Minerva, and led into the Great Hall where Dudley was introduced around as Harry's last living family. While they were making introductions, Luna came up to them. "Hi Harry." She called out, smiling.

"Luna!" Harry exclaimed, pulling the girl into a hug. "I'm glad to see you here."

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world." She said, her dreamy voice penetrating the ears of the rest of Harry's group. "Though I must admit, I am displeased. There seems to be an infestation of Wrackspurts."

Harry chuckled a bit and Dudley asked, "What's a Wackspert?"

The blonde smiled at him, her soft features showing nothing but happiness. "A Wrackspurt is an invisible creature, and it floats into your ears then makes your brain go fuzzy." She explained.

Dudley's eyes widened. "There aren't any of those in here, are there?"

"Oh no." The young woman reassured him. "They're nesting in the library at the moment."

* * *

><p>Harry was sitting at a table in a corner with Draco, sipping some sort of bubbly almost yellow drink. They were fairly well hidden from the direct sight of anyone who entered the hall. As the point of this gathering was for some sort of social gathering related to academics, Harry didn't want to steal any attention.<p>

Draco leaned over and whispered to Harry, "Don't look now, but I see some telling red hair at the doors."

Of course, being the one who refused to follow most rules, Harry looked and saw the red hair. Immediately expecting Ron, he lifted his head some, but when his eyes met the fired up brown eyes of Ginny Weasley, he sunk back into his seat. "Shit." He whispered.

Ginny made her way to Harry's table, smiling in an exuberant way. He saw her coming and decided to retain some dignity, straightened himself out, and awaited the fiasco that was sure to erupt. Sitting herself down on the other side of the young savior, she struck up a conversation. "Harry, it's so nice to see you here. Mum almost wouldn't let me come."

"It's nice to be here Ginerva." Harry expressed in a low tone.

The girl's eyes narrowed. "I would prefer it if you called me 'Ginny', Harry."

"I apologize Ginerva, but in light of the current company, the request on my appearance here, and the title I gained when I came of age, I find myself unable to comply with that request." Harry retorted, trying to sound as stern as possible.

Dudley went up to his cousin's table. He looked quite dignified for once in his life. Giving a slight bow to the female, he turned to Harry. "Lord Potter, Lord Malfoy." He acknowledged. "Miss Weasley I presume?" At the slight nod of the younger woman, he continued. "Professor Snape requests your presence." He extended a hand and helped the young woman up who went over to her Professor with a confused look.

Seeing the equally obscure gazes on the faces of the two young men, Dudley sat down at the table in the chair the girl had taken earlier. "Oi, that was nerve-wracking. Mr. Snape told me to say all that, said you might need saving."

Draco broke into a grin. "That was brilliant Dudley. Absolutely brilliant. You sounded so official. I wonder why he told you to call me Lord Malfoy though, that's Father's title."

Dudley nodded. "He said you might say something like that. Gave me this to give to you." He handed the blond an envelope that held the seal of the Ministry of Magic.

After a few tense moments of watching Draco's eyes widen and narrow many times, followed by biting his bottom lip, the young man finally exclaimed, "Holy shit, I'm Lord Malfoy."

"Congratulations." Luna said airily, sitting down beside Dudley. She turned to the young man that she sat beside. "Harry's only living family, I never caught your name. I'm Luna Lovegood." She extended her hand.

Dudley shook it with tentative measure. "Dudley, Dudley Dursley." He said simply.

As the two chatted about themselves, their likes and dislikes, Harry leaned in to Draco and asked a question that had been plaguing him for a while. "Hey Malfoy... Snape said... that he was a half blood, right?" At Draco's nod, he continued. "Well, his dad was a muggle, right? And his mom, she was a witch." Again the blond nodded, looking a bit confused. "Well, he gets his name from his dad, but his place is called Snape Manor instead of Prince Manor... It's obviously a magical home, so it would have been his mom's. Why is it called Snape Manor?"

Draco chuckled. "Because, when his mother was disowned from the family for marrying a muggle, she'd already inherited the everything from her father who'd died before that, and it couldn't be taken away. Since her name changed, the name of the manor did as well. Since she was the last Prince, everything that was referred to as The Prince family's changed to the Snape Family's."

Harry nodded. This made a bit of sense to him, and he felt quite glad that Draco had known that, as he couldn't see him actually asking the man that question.

* * *

><p>Standing in Madam Malkin's while Dudley was getting measured, Harry took Snape to the side and in a low hushed tone, he whispered, "Thanks for saving me from Ginny earlier."<p>

Severus gave a curt nod, his body a bit stiff. "Think nothing of it. It was a gesture made out of pure selfishness on my part. If I had to listen to you droning on about how she refused to leave you alone all morning, I may have found myself compelled to do bodily harm to you."

Harry smirked. "A simple, 'you're welcome', would have sufficed."

"There is nothing simple about me or my choice in communication Mr. Potter." The dark wizard rivaled Harry's smirk with his own, much more natural looking one.

"And now," Draco stated, his eyes bright with passion, "We get to choose fabrics!"

Dudley looked at the blond strangely. "Okay, go for it."

The newly appointed Lord Malfoy looked hesitantly at the young boxer. "You don't want to choose your own?"

"No." Dudley said, shaking his head. "I don't really care what I wear, and if you pick it out, it's less I have to worry about." He stated honestly.

"Alright then." Draco maintained. "You won't be sorry!"

"He should be a fashion savant." Harry muttered.

Snape gave a suspicious look to the young savior. "Fashion savant Mr. Potter? I was not aware you grasped the concept of the English language well enough to recognize such an idiom."

Harry was beginning to tire of the man's demeanor. The older man had been short all day thanks to that 'party' they'd been forced to attend, and young Harry was almost at his limit of stopping himself from being sarcastic in his own replies. "Indeed Mr. Snape." Harry answered, his voice laced with sarcasm and irritation. "It seems as though there are many facets of myself that you've yet to become acquainted with."

"My my, you do have quite the tongue. May I indulge in this curiosity and inquire specifically why you chose not to show this type of verbose aptitude when applying yourself to your curriculum?"

"Of course you may. When one does not feel that those who instruct him show any type of enthusiasm towards person growth, but instead choose to berate him when he shows an affinity for erudition, one matriculates to lower his external application to the level in which is expected of his peers."

Dudley interrupted them. "Sorry but, what the hell are you two talking about?"

Raising an eyebrow towards Dudley's direction, Severus commented, "I see that this manifestation of proficient dialect is not something that is inherited from pedigree."

Completely ignoring his cousin's presence, Harry continued on in the same vein. "It has also come to my recognition that you favor brutality over tact." His anger began mounting. "Something I wonder if you inherited from your lineage." Unfortunately for him, he'd realized that this heated argument was having some adverse affects on his body. _Damint! Why does the git have to be so sexy when he's being such a bastard?_

"I regard that you do not deny the rectitude of said brutality." Snape sneered at the young man before him.

Harry took a step forward, lessening the space between the two men, and lifted his head to look directly into the eyes of the man who was wearing his patience thin. "I do not deny the truth, but it still gives you no right to deride those who are unfortunate enough to not comprehend conjectures of themselves."

Dudley walked over to Draco. "What are they talking about?"

"They're arguing. It started when Harry began using big words. Uncle Severus asked why he never used the big words in school, Harry told him it was because he, and the other teachers, disapproved of showing off in class thinking it'd upset the other students.

Then you asked your question, Uncle Severus insulted you, then Harry told him he was rude. Uncle Severus agreed that he was being rude, but challenged Harry to deny that you couldn't understand what they were saying. Harry couldn't deny it because it was true, but told him that just because you didn't know the big words gave him no right to insult you."

During Draco's explanation of what had just went on, the two heated men shared a few more loquacious barbs. Both of their faces had flushed with a bit of color, and they stood nose to nose, with Harry almost on the balls of his feet trying to stare the man down.

"Your incompetence astounds me Potter." Snape shot out. A muscle in Harry's face near his nose twitched, and a growl came from his mouth. "Cat got your tongue?" The older man asked sarcastically.

For some reason, Harry had no idea why, he grabbed the dark wizard's robes, pulled him close to his own body, and smashed his mouth to the other man's lips. Pulling away quickly, he whispered, "You're a right bastard." Then pulled the other man down again for another chaste yet bruising kiss. Releasing the man, Harry stormed out of the shop.

Severus stood there, the stunned feeling he couldn't shake showing on his face. "What the bloody hell was that?" He said in a moment lacking of his usual eloquence.

"Now I've seen him do some weird things to throw people off when he's angry." Dudley said, "But that takes the cake."

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: _**I had fun with a thesaurus today... Woooo sexual tension~**  
><strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

After searching extensively in Diagon Alley for Harry after he stormed off, Severus Draco and Dudley could find him nowhere. The three returned to the manor, Severus in a particularly detached mood.

As they entered the home, their ears were assaulted by the horribly off-key singing of one country song. "Oooh I've got frieeeends in loooow places where the whiskey drowwwwns and the beer chases my bluuuues away! I'll be okaaaay!"

Following the noise, they found Harry cater-walling into the bottle he was clutching before taking a swig. _He took the good brandy! _Severus thought, then wondered how the brat managed to find his personal stash.

"Potter." He called out. "Would you be so kind as to inform me WHY you chose to ran off today?"

"I was thinkin' you was bein' a prick." Harry answered, a shiver running down his spine. He stood up, a bit off-balance, and walked (stumbled) to the dark wizard, poking him in the chest. "An' you are... iduuno." He removed his accusing finger from the man. "Go away."

Draco looked on at the young man. "Well, at least you don't have to tell Headmistress McGonagall that you lost him right after her party." He offered.

"You said you would stop this foolishness of drowning your sorrows in alcohol." Severus chided the young drunken man before him.

"Nu uh." Harry shook his head quickly, then abruptly stopped and put his hand over his mouth. After a minute or so, he removed the hand as he felt safe to continue without the contents of his lunch being on display for everyone. "I said if you stopped I'd stop. You didn' stop."

"You are 17 Potter, you are too young to start turning to the bottle every time something doesn't go your way." The man informed him, a glare on his face.

Harry snorted. "Bullshit. Too young? Me! Too young?" He laughed darkly, took another drink, and set on a rant. "I wasn' too young to go off an' MURDER a man. I wasn' too young to even com.. compef... To battle a dragon. I wasn't too young to kill a 40- er 60 foot snake!" His voice had reached levels of near yelling. "I wasn' too young to have the weight of the entire wizerdy world on mah shoulders! How the hell am I too young to get drunk when I damn well want to?"

Raising a brusque eyebrow, Severus commented, "That little speech would have been a lot more effective if you could actually pronounce the words correctly. Yes, you are too young, you were too young for **all** of that. Those things were forced on you, you irritating fool. You have a choice this time! You'll end up cold, bitter, and alone if you continue down this path! You'll end up..." He trailed off.

Narrowing his gaze, the young savior's upper lip curled a bit. "Like you?"

"Go. To. Bed." Snape ordered.

"You wouldn' be alone if you'd stop pushin' people who like you away!" Harry commented.

Severus snorted. "And I suppose you're one of those people who like me that I push away?" He asked sarcastically.

Harry chose not to reply, but simply stormed off. Severus, Draco, and Dudley went into the sitting room, a tumbler of whiskey finding its way to the dark wizard's hand. Loud music started coming from Harry's room, and after nearly ten minutes of listening to it, Severus angrily got up to go yell at the boy.

When he reached the door, the bass coming from the radio the young man had apparently conjured was vibrating the walls. Seeing as he couldn't force the door open thanks to the wards put in place by Potter, he banged on it yelling for him to open the door this instant.

After a few minutes of trying to get the young man's attention and failing miserably, Severus resulted to a tactic used once by his mother, and apparated into the room. Thankfully, seeing as he was Lord Snape, the house nor any wards concocted by Harry could keep him out.

When he appeared in the room, Harry was downing the contents of a vial, using his left hand to dry his hair with a towel, and walking from the en-suite bathroom. The next thing Severus noticed was sparce water droplets adorning the young man's chest. After that, he saw that, thankfully, the young man before him was wearing a set of boxers.

After making a face at the potion he'd just ingested, Harry jumped when he saw Severus standing in his room. "FUCK! Snape, what the hell are you doing in here?" He yelled before turning the music down so he might have a chance to hear the man's explanation before he sent him hurdling from the room.

"What potion did you just take?" The man demanded, ignoring the question.

"Not that it's any of your business, but a sobering potion." Harry informed him. "Now what are you doing in here?"

"I came to demand you turn your music down. Now that you have, I shall leave." The dark man turned around and started to exit the room, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Look... I'm sorry about how I acted earlier. I wasn't in my right mind." Harry tried, before turning and slipping on some everyday clothes.

"You shouldn't apologize. It's preferable to know how you actually regard me, and I value honesty over tact." The dark wizard replied.

Shaking his head, Harry chuckled. "That's the thing though. I don't think of you like that. God dammit, can't you just accept an apology?" Not waiting for a reply, Harry turned off his radio and unwarded his room. "I'm going to make supper." He announced before heading into the kitchen.

Severus followed the man out, but took a seat in the living room whilst the younger wizard went to go cook. Draco was shaking his head a bit. "What?" Severus asked the young blond.

"He may not have lived with us long, but I've noticed some things." Draco started. "One of the things I've noticed, is that when he's angry, he cooks a very very large meal, and it takes forever. Another thing I've noticed is that when he's cooking, he prefers company. Go in there and help."

"What gives you the-" Severus started before he was cut off.

"You can punish me for ordering you around after supper. Now go. And. Help." He ordered.

Sighing in resignation, Severus stood and made his way to the kitchen. Water was boiling on the stove, and the oven portion was heating for something. Without looking up from the potatoes he was chopping, Harry told the man, "Grab a block of cheese and start grating."

* * *

><p>"All I request is that after the potion has been made readily available for those who need it, the werewolves get the same consideration as any other prospective parents seeking adoption." Harry stated. He was at the Ministry of Magic with Snape trying to sort out equal right for werewolves who would take the wolfsbane potion.<p>

"And what happens if the potion is not taken every single month? What do you suggest we do if one of those beasts turns and bites the child?" One of the women Harry and Severus were appealing to asked.

"I believe that it would be acceptable to only allow werewolves with non-turned mates to adopt until a cure is made." Severus offered, much to Harry's agreement.

"And how many more years until a cure is finalized Mr. Snape?" A man asked.

"We do not know. I have been researching and attempting to improve the potion for the last three years, but my colleague who agreed to test it has passed. I would need to speak with another prospective tester and set something up through those means." The dark wizard tried.

Minister Shacklebolt called the attention of those present. "We shall not allow adoption yet. However, if you can improve the Wolfsbane potion to only be needed once to retain one's mind during the transformations for the rest of a werewolf's life, we shall immediately pass the bill you've proposed. In the meantime, I shall personally select a few of the registered werewolves and send them to you for interviews to help in your testing."

"That actually sounds fair." Harry stated. The exchanged goodbyes with the group, and walked from the Ministry.

The young savior had convinced Snape to walk back to the manor from the town nearest it instead of directly apparating there. Along their path, Harry decided to bring up the day before in the robe shop. "Why didn't you push me away?" He asked.

"What occasion are you speaking of?" Severus inquired.

"When I grabbed you and kissed you. Why didn't you push me away, or get angry with me for it?"

Snape stopped walking, and mulled over the question in his mind. "I suppose I was more stunned than anything that you would do something like that just to 'throw me off', as your cousin put it." He began walking again. "It was a very Slytherin tactic."

Harry shook his head, and a small smile creeped along his lips. "It wasn't a diversionary tactic Snape."

"Then what was it?" The older man asked, more to himself than anything. He was still trying to register his own emotions, and refused to believe that the young man currently accompanying on the walk home was even remotely interested in him.

"I'm not sure." Harry replied honestly. The rest of their walk was spent in companionable silence, both attempting to sort out their own feelings of the situation, and neither of them daring to ask if the other felt any sort of aspiration for anything more than what their current standing with each other held.

As the two men entered the manor, they were simultaneously assaulted with the prickling sense that something was amiss. They bounded into the sitting room, and the sight before them was cause for pause.

Dudley was huddled in a corner with a rather large cobra in front of them, hissing and snapping at a cloaked intruder, her hood bared in full. Draco was standing tall, as tall as his short frame would allow, almost in between Dudley and the protective snake with his wand pointed at the invader.

"You annoying brat." The cloaked man raggedly taunted. He sounded as if he might be in pain. "You steal my title, and you can't even fight your own battles, you have to summon that guard snake?"

The man obviously hadn't noticed when the two powerful wizards came in. "Malfoy." Harry whispered, and in a blinding flash of light the hooded figure was raised into the air, holding still as the young Lord Potter walked calmly towards him.

Severus made his way to the other young men to ascertain of any possible injuries. Ensuring himself that they were fine, he turned his gaze back to Potter, and nearly fell over onto his arse at what he saw.

Harry was angry... very angry. Lucius Malfoy was writhing in pain in the air, a silent scream ever present on his face, and clutching his arm as if he were being ruthlessly summoned by the Dark Lord. Harry had a small smile on his lips, and his eyes were narrowed in concentration. None of this was what concerned Severus though. What disturbed him was the fact that there was no green in Harry's eyes, not a sliver. They were an all encompassing, familiar, and dreaded blood red.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Harry was so focused on Lucius, and Severus was watching Harry's eyes so intently, that neither of them noticed the voices of Draco and Dudley calling out for the young savior. Severus was roused when he felt his arm stinging and heated. Looking down, he saw a bright red hand print, and an apologetic looking Draco.

"Sorry Uncle Severus, but you weren't paying attention. We need to do something to stop Harry. If he kills father, we'll never find out how the bastard got past the wards." Draco said, concern evident in his voice.

Severus nodded and called out, "Potter!" The only response he received was absolute nothingness. He walked over to the young man and put a hand on his shoulder. "Potter." He said in his strictest teaching voice. Still nothing. He then did the only thing his mind could think of. Grasping the young man's other shoulder, he leaned in, his stomach and chest pressing into Harry's back. Sliding his head forward, he whispered into the young man's ear, "Harry, please."

Harry broke his concentration, and Lucius fell to the ground with an audible groan and a sickening snap as one of his bones broke. The young savior turned and looked at Severus intently. His eyes had sort of reverted back to normal, but Snape noted there were still lines of red in them.

Harry then grabbed on to Severus' hands in a surprising display of strength, and pushed him up against a wall. Holding the older man's wrists above his head, the young wizard leaned in and pressed their lips together. In a nonexistent battle for dominance over the situation, Harry bit into Severus' bottom lip, causing it to bleed a bit. One of his hands flew to Snape's groin, fondling his once professor's slightly bulging length as it hardened. The kissing, nibbling, groping and suckling lasted for a few moments, before a thought flashed through the young man's head. _What is that taste?_

Harry stopped his undertaking and stepped back, his hand still firmly in place holding the dark wizard's wrists above his head. Taking a look at his prey's face, he saw the blood trickling from the older man's bottom lip, and the confused, slightly frightened look on his face. Harry released the man before him.

Shaking his head and muttering about turning into a monster, Harry fled from the house as fast as his feet would carry him. Snape's arms dropped limply to his side, and he slid to his knees using the wall as support so he wouldn't fall over.

"I knew he had a crush on your uncle, but I never thought I'd see him act like that to him." Dudley whispered to Draco.

Severus' head snapped towards the two young men who were cowed at the events they'd just witnessed. "What did you say?" He asked in disbelief, having heard the borderline squib quite clearly.

"Uhhh... Harry has a crush on you? Surprise?"

"That's preposterous." Severus stated, regaining himself. "He was obviously under some sort of magical influence that caused his actions."

Draco shook his head. "No, Dudley's right. Harry's had a crush on you since last year apparently. Told me so when we were playing truth or dare."

"He must have been simply telling you that to curb your interest in who he might fancy." Severus said quite determined. _There is no way in hell that man has any interest in me. I'm 20 years his senior, nearly twice his age! _

Dudley went to his cousin's room and pulled out the journal from underneath his bed. The same place that he'd found it on Privet Drive. Making his way back down to the sitting room where Draco and Snape had made it to the couch and were silently looking over Lucius' unconscious body, Dudley was leafing through the journal and found the entry he'd been looking for. He handed it to the dark wizard and sat down. "That's where I first learned about his crush on you." The borderline squib informed.

Snape sighed and looked at the page in front of him. He was going to skim over it and inform the boy that he'd misinterpreted what Harry had written, but the first word on the page made him actually decide to read it.

_**Snape. That man is an utter bastard. He ordered me a detention yesterday for 'breathing too hard'. Informed us that it would upset the potion. I've never heard a more lame excuse. He makes me so angry I just want to... What does he take me for, an uncultivated simpleton? I've half a nerve to speak with Dumbledore on this. Not that it would show any amount of favor for my predicament. There is no more possibility that my breathing could have disrupted the Scintillation Solution than there is the possibility that a hippogriff laugh at you if you strike it with a block of wood after calling it a mountain troll.**_

_**Severus. Why must my body and mind betray me? He's shown nothing but contempt for my existence, so why should I respond in such an disconcerting way when he glares at me with those smoldering black eyes. He wonders why I continuously fail in his class. It's so difficult to concentrate when I can hear his breathing as he looms close behind me, peering over my shoulder into my cauldron. When I can feel the warmth from his body on my back as he ridicules my 'skills' in potions. What I wouldn't do to have him press his body against mine and whisper in my ear. I would lose control and take him right there, willing or not.**_

_**No, I wouldn't do that, it would be rape. That is something that Snake-Face would do, and I would never stoop that low. Besides, it's not as if the man would give me a chance to find out. He would yell at me for my incompetence before he allowed that to happen. Dear Merlin, it's not bad enough that I must hide my intelligence from these people, now I must also hide my feelings for a man who loathes my very name. He is irritating to no end. Severus Snape is a bastard. An evil, sexy bastard.**_

Severus sat there for a few moments, re-reading the last line. He knew Harry had written it, as he had read enough essays from the young man to immediately recognize his handwriting. He cleared his throat. "There is no way that could have been misinterpreted." He muttered. Closing the book, and moving it towards Dudley, he ordered the young man to put it back where he found it, and for both of the men to get dressed as they were going to go and look for the boy.

Before they left, both he and Draco cast a body bind on Lucius, and locked him in a the cold dank basement, warding the room and door against escape and self-injury.

* * *

><p>Searching the woods around the nearby town, Snape finally came upon Harry who was laying flat on top of a boulder overlooking a small river. The group had split up in their search for the missing man, and Severus was actually quite glad he'd been the one to find him.<p>

"You shouldn't have come." Harry said, quite calmly and quietly.

Severus walked up to the boulder and climbed atop it, sitting a few feet from the young savior. "I had to."

"Why? I've killed Voldemort, why must you watch after me? I'm of no more importance to anyone." The young wizard replied.

"You're of importance to me." Snape stated honestly.

"How can you say that?" Harry demanded, turning to glare at the man before him. He lowered his eyes. "Especially after what I did..."

"What you did." Severus repeated. "Ah, you mean saving your friend from his murderous father."

The young Lord Potter looked up at the dark wizard with a pained expression. "I mean forcing you to do something you never wanted to begin with. Forcing myself on you and forcing you to kiss me."

"Who said I'd never wanted to kiss you?" Severus asked.

Harry's eyes grew wide a moment, then narrowed and a frown passed his lips. "I saw the fear in your face. And the confusion. You can't say you didn't feel that."

Snape nodded slowly. "Yes, I felt both of those emotions. I also felt lust at the prospect that it was you who was fondling my person."

"You're just saying that. I could have raped you."

"But you didn't. Harry, why do you think I allowed you to live here in the first place? I've had a certain fondness-"

"No. Don't lie to me." Harry pleaded, shaking his head and fisting his hair..

"I'm not lying. I've had a fondness for you since your 6th year. I accepted your cousin into my home, not at the prospect of money, but because you were so adamant in his safety. Truth be told, I've not spent a knut of the rent you've paid. I've kept it all in a bottomless pouch that I intended on slipping into your personal items when you inevitably grew tired of me and moved away."

"That can't be true. Are you not afraid of me now that you've seen what I am capable of?" The young wizard whispered.

"Of you, no. I do not fear you."

"But you admitted to fear-"

"I fear the prospect of the power you attained from the Dark Lord being able to consume you as it did him. I fear the possibility of losing you to that insanity. I even fear the urge to kill may overtake you one day, and that I'll never see those green eyes again, that they might become forever replaced by the red you sported tonight. But I do not fear you." Severus tried to explain.

"My eyes went red?" Harry asked, uncertainty lacing his voice.

"Indeed they did. When you saw Lucius, they went as red as the Dark Lord's himself. When I called your attention away from him and you pushed me into the wall, there were still traces of red in them. That awful color didn't leave them until you backed away after noticing what you had done."

"I'm so sorry." Harry whispered, curling into himself.

Severus scooted over, extended his hand, and lifted the young man's face. "I'm not." He whispered back. A bit louder, his hand still cupping the young man's face, he said, "Harry, I am going to give you back your money no matter your response. I am asking you if you will live with me, free of charge. Just... live with me. Your cousin can even stay without rent. I have no need for your money, the Prince vaults can keep us all up for several lifetimes. I want to try to establish a relationship with you based on something besides hate."

"You can't mean that." The young man's voice betrayed his face and sounded out the tears he refused to shed.

"Allow me to show you how much I mean it." Severus said, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to the young man's lips.

For a moment, Harry didn't respond. Then - after what seemed like ages - he kissed the man back. It was a soft kiss, full of possibilities. The sound of a twig snapping and someone saying, 'Awwww' jolted Harry, and he put a bit too much pressure onto the mouth that caressed his own before he quickly turned with wand in hand to face whoever made the noise.

Severus took in a sharp breath at the pain his swollen bottom lip felt when the pressure landed onto the bite that had caused injury earlier. Harry quickly turned his face back to the dark wizard in front of him. "Did I hurt you?" He asked tentatively.

"Hardly. It was nothing in comparison to the cruciatus curse." Severus reassured. "I hope you don't expect me to change the way I treat... well, everyone else. While I may seem a different person now, it is simply a buried side of me that - until recently - I was sure had ceased to exist. I will be no less tough on you, and I foresee many arguments in our future."

Harry smiled for the first time since Snape found him sitting atop the boulder. "I would never want such a thing. Your sarcasm, wit, and even your snappy nature are all things I like about you."

"Alright you two, come on. I'm hungry and we have a crazy dude to interrogate lying in the basement." Dudley informed them. Draco smacked his arm at the impatience of the young man and the interruption of his Godfather's moment.

Harry pressed his and Severus' foreheads together. "I guess we should go then and figure out how Lucius got in."

"Probably." Severus jumped from the boulder, landing crouched on his feet. He stood and held out a hand to help the young savior down, who accepted it graciously. When they'd reached the edge of the wood, before they were spotted by anyone in town, Severus turned to the young man. "Potter?" He asked. "Are we going to keep this from the public?"

Harry thought for a moment, then latched on to Severus' hand. "Fuck the public." He stated. "If they can't accept what may come of our relationship, then they can get over it." They began to walk into town to find the path back home.

"Indeed." Severus said. "Fuck the public."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The group began walking back through town. All of them were so wrapped up in their own thoughts, that none of them really remembered they could simply apparate back to the manor.

Harry was vaguely aware of people staring at them and whispering when they got out of earshot. He wondered if these people were muggles or magical, and why they were whispering since no one here seemed to know him. "Snape?"

"Mmm, what?" The man replied.

"Why are these people whispering? Do they know who I am?" Harry asked worriedly.

"No. These people are mostly muggles and for once, the stares don't revolve around you." Snape informed him.

Harry glanced around at the people, and noticed a woman staring directly at him with a glare that would rival the potions master's. "I suppose they are like most muggles then." He muttered.

"What do you mean?" Severus inquired.

"Oh, that they aren't comfortable with gay people. Most muggles don't approve."

The dark wizard shook his head. "No, that has nothing to do with it. In fact, the people of this town are very open minded. They're staring becau-"

"Dr. Snape!" The woman who'd been glaring at them earlier called out as she ran up to the man.

"Someone kill me." Severus whispered as he turned around. "What do you want Lorraine?"

"Tell me, what is my reason for visiting you every year?" She narrowed her eyes.

"You have an ache in your leg from a broken bone that was never set correctly." The man replied.

"Not good enough. What was my maiden name?" She demanded.

"Markol." He answered. "Are you quite finished?"

The woman's features softened. "Yes, yes. Sorry about that Dr. Snape, but I was sure someone was masquerading as you."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Ahh hello there deary. My name is Lorraine. I was just making sure that Dr. Snape was really him." She replied.

Harry looked questioningly at Severus, who shook his head. "She is a patient of mine. She's always been paranoid and whenever any of us in town ever do something out of the ordinary, she has to make sure we're really who we appear to be." He explained.

Harry laughed outright. "I guess it is pretty out of the ordinary to see you holding hands with anybody."

"It is with him being so... Him." The woman replied. "So you understand why I had to make sure."

Harry nodded and Draco snickered. She turned to the blond. "Ahh Draco. It's good to see you again. Will you be staying this year?" She asked.

"Yes Madame. I'm living with Uncle Severus now." He replied.

"Ahh good good. Finally managed to convince him to come out of his shell then, eh?" She asked.

Draco shook his head. "No Ma'am, that was all Harry's doing."

"Was that all you wanted Lorraine?" Severus asked shortly.

"Yes, that was all I wanted, but now I want to know something else. Will you be needing my assistance this year? What with the young men you have around now to help."

"I will still require your assistance. These two," He said motioning towards Harry and Dudley, "have never seen my side-practice and won't know what to do. If this year shows the growing trend the past five have shown, I shall require all of your help." The dark wizard informed.

The woman nodded. "You want me to come early then? Say an hour or so to help get them acquainted?"

He nodded. "That would be most beneficial." The woman went on her way, and the group found themselves on the trail that led to the manor.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked.

"Every year in the summer, I open the doors of the manor for three days straight and distribute potions to the muggles for their various ailments and pains. Lorraine has helped me for the past seven years in exchange for being the first one healed. She takes care of bringing those who are unable to make it on their own, and distributes the simplest potions. She also entertains the children who are dragged there by their families."

"Why Snape, I never expected you to do such a thing." Harry said almost astonished. "Though that explains why she called you Doctor."

* * *

><p>As the group entered the manor, Severus ordered Draco to go and get some veritaserum and turned to Dudley. "Since we shall start the potion tonight at midnight, you may choose to not participate in this evening's interrogation since you are not technically a wizard yet."<p>

The young man thought this over, but nodded. "I want to see what will happen." He stated.

"We'll put up a protective bubble around you then so you don't get hit by any stray hexes." Harry said.

Draco came back with the truth potion, handed it to Severus, and they all started to the basement.

When they'd entered the room, Lucius was ranting and raving, held in place by the earlier placed body binds. "You! Release me at once!" He barked.

"Afraid not." Draco smirked.

"I will cut you from my will if you do not release me!" The older blond seethed.

Draco held out his hand as if inspecting his nails. "I need nothing from your will. Now that I am Lord Malfoy, I can get whatever I want from the estates."

"He may also retract your vaults as well." Severus informed the angry captor.

"You would never." Lucius snarled. He started wiggling, trying to loosen the invisible ropes that held him down.

"I will. Tomorrow morning I plan on visiting Gringotts and extracting you from everything. You will be known as Lucius Farven, taking on your mother's maiden name. I will no longer stand for you to drag the Malfoy name through the mud." The younger blond explained.

"How did you steal the title of Lord Malfoy, eh?" The man thought he was going to be able to get the title back with whatever scheme his son might have had.

"Afraid you did that yourself Lucius." The young man smirked. "When you went and tried to kill Harry, savior of the wizarding world, you took away your right to be titled Lord. As your heir, Minister Shacklebolt awarded me with the title."

"Enough." Severus said, swooping down and forcing three drops of the truth potion down Lucius' throat. When the man's eyes glazed over and his struggling ceased, Snape stood again and began the questioning. "How did you get past my wards?"

"I used a potion you left at my home." Lucius said monotonously, even drooling a bit.

"What potion?" Harry demanded.

"I don't know." Lucius replied.

"Where did you find it?" Severus asked.

"In the nightstand in Draco's old room."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Was there a parchment with the potion?"

"Yes."

"What did it say?" The dark wizard demanded, becoming more angry by the second.

"Draco, Should you feel the need to escape your home, drink this. It will allow you to apparate to my manor. Signed, S." Lucius replied.

Severus remembered Draco telling him a while ago that he'd lost the potion, and wondered... "When did you find this potion?"

"Seven months ago."

"Why did you come here?" Harry interrupted.

"To kill Draco."

The blond boy's eyes widened as he found himself sitting on the floor. Harry's temper was beginning to flare again. "Why?"

"Because he was a spy."

"How did you escape Azkaban?" Draco demanded.

"I bribed one of the guards of the non-dementor variety."

"What on earth could you have bribed them with that they don't already get?" Harry wondered aloud.

"Sex."

The group looked at each other and Draco smirked a bit. "Leave it to _him _to be willing to lay one of the ugliest people alive just to get out."

"I believe that is all of the information we need." Severus stated. He motioned to Harry, who put his cousin in a protective bubble, then administered the antidote to Lucius. "Draco, you may not want to be here-"

"I want to see this man get everything he deserves for all he's done." Draco interrupted. "I want to watch him die." The look on his face was downright frightening.

Harry tilted his head to the side. "How is he going to die?"

"I'd assumed that since you wanted so badly to kill him earlier, you would have that right." Severus stated calmly.

Dudley's eyes widened within his bubble. "What if he gets all red-eyed again?"

"I will be here to snap him out of it once he completes his task." The dark wizard informed him.

"I have you know that you can't just go around killing bound people without a reason. Especially when those people have the power I do." The older blond snapped.

A smile filtered across Harry's lips. "Don't worry Lucius. You will be unbound when I decide your time is up. We will have a proper wizard's duel, without seconds." He turned to Severus. "If it's all the same to you and Draco, I'd rather wait until he's been stripped of all his assets. Less mess to clean up when he's dead, so to speak."

Draco nodded. "I can wait." They turned to leave. "I believe we should inform the Ministry that the guards in Az-" A bolt of purple light flew past him and was absorbed by Dudley's bubble. The impact made him stumble.

Harry turned around quickly and saw that the man had lost his binds. He sent a cousin of the petrificus totalus to the tall blond and watched as he fell to the ground growling. "I think we should wrap him up again." He muttered. The three magical beings all put their own magical and physical bindings on the man that had been captured and then made their way with the borderline squib from the basement.

Once the room had been re-warded and locked, they tried to have a conversation, but the yelling and noise Lucius emitted was proving to make that impossible. Severus quickly cast a silencing charm that would be broken should the man escape his binds again.

"Good, now as I was saying, I think we should inform the Ministry that their guards in Azkaban are not infallible." Draco muttered, sitting down.

"Agreed." Harry stated simply. "I'll go and do that while you're at Gringotts tomorrow."

"How are you gonna tell them without letting on that you've got that man in the basement?" Dudley wondered.

"Hmm, good question." Harry muttered.

"The stunning spell you put into use was green." Severus informed them. "We can halt the memory directly after you sent the spell, and if they assume it was the killing curse, who are we to inform them otherwise? After all, it appears as though he struck your cousin with a spell that could have killed him, so your retaliation would be justified."

"What about alerting them to my... condition?" Harry asked. "We did talk about it right before we left..."

"Simple solution. We start the memory when we started to leave and I said that bit about telling the Ministry about the guards." Draco tried.

"Yes, that sounds plausible." Severus stated. "I shall extract the memories from you, Harry, and myself to have ready for the aurors."

"Well, now that that's all sorted out, I'm gonna go cook supper." Harry informed them.

"If you continue to prepare all of our meals," Severus started, "I shall have to find another suitable job for Litsy."

Harry flashed a smile. "She can always be a nanny elf if we have kids."

"Mmm yes, she is good with children." Severus thought aloud, then it hit him what had just been said. "Wait, WHAT?" He demanded, hands clutching the arms of his chair causing his knuckles to turn white, but Harry had already slipped into the kitchen.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"We're so sorry Lord Potter. We had no idea our guards would stoop that low." A male auror stated.

Another auror, female this time, piped up, "How did you know Lucius bribed a guard with sex?"

"Severus Snape dosed him with Veritaserum." Harry whispered, a shudder visible as he closed his eyes and appeared to be willing the memory to go away.

"I can see that these memories are hard on you." The first auror said, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "We won't extract them, but can you please give us some more information?"

Harry solemnly nodded and opened his eyes. "Anything to help."

"Good, good. Now, did you find out why he came there?"

"H-He wanted... He wanted to kill Draco... His only son." He shook his head and wiped at his eyes, even though there were no tears present to try and dry.

"Why?" The second auror demanded, clearly not truly believing the young savior.

"Because." Harry stated, his voice lowering to a whisper. "Draco was a spy and tricked him when Voldemort was alive..." He shook again, curling his legs up to his chest.

The first auror looked in pity to the young man and pulled the second to the side. "Be a little easier on the lad. Can't you see he's having a hard time?" He whispered.

She snapped at him in a low voice so as not to be heard, "He killed You-Know-Who, there's no way he should be having a hard time with this."

Harry had indeed heard her, but chose not to answer. A knock came to the door. The first auror opened it, and someone stated, "This young man demands to see Mr. Potter. He says he has important information for Mr. Potter." Draco popped his head out from behind the man. Harry saw him and ran to him, wrapping the man in a hug.

The blond was completely thrown off, but hugged him back. "What's wrong Harry?"

"I'm sorry Draco. I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe." He forced his voice into sobs. Softly he whispered, "Go with it. Show them the mark you got when you first faced off against Lucius."

Quickly, Draco's mind worked to realize that Harry was trying to play victim and stated, "It's okay Harry. You couldn't have known he'd show up. Besides, he didn't get me that bad, and you saved me." He patted the young savior's back. He unwrapped Harry from his person and led him back to the chair, removing his robe as if he were hot to show a bright red swollen mark on his arm where he'd been hit before he summoned Serenity.

"I believe you stated that you had information for Lord Potter." The second auror stated.

Draco nodded to her, then turned to Harry. "Hey, I was at Gringotts today, and I found out that Mother left a vault for you in her will. She'd hidden it from Father and it became activated when I took the title of Lord Malfoy." He said truthfully. "It was activated whether or not she had died by that time, so she's not been proven to be... well.. you know, so we can continue searching for her." He smiled sadly and bit his bottom lip. "Mother's going to be so proud of you when she learns what you did for me. And now that I can tell her I was a spy, she's going to be so happy."

_Man, he's laying it on thick. _Harry thought. He nodded slowly. "I'm sure she will." He said, laying a hand on Draco's shoulder. Everybody had known that more than likely, Narcissa was dead, probably killed by Lucius. The two young men had also known that no one was searching for her.

"What were you doing at Gringotts?" The second auror demanded. The first looked at her sternly, and she replied to the look with, "What? It's kind of fishy that now his father's dead and he goes to Gringotts."

"I agree with that assessment." Draco stated. "It is very odd. But I assure you, I was gathering papers stating that Lucius Malfoy would be henceforth known as Lucius Farven, taking on his mother's maiden name. I refuse to allow that man's past deeds to drag the Malfoy name down any more." He took out the paper that confirmed what he'd just said and put it on the table in front of them.

"I thought you could only do that if the person was alive." The female auror said, glaring at the two young men.

Draco nodded. "In most cases. He hasn't been buried yet, and I want his last name changed before it gets on the tombstone."

Harry shivered a bit, drawing the attention back to him. He whispered loudly, "I hope Dudley's okay."

"Who's Dudley?" The first auror asked curiously.

Harry buried his head into his knees. Draco wrapped an arm around him. "Dudley is his cousin, the one that Father hexed before Harry struck him..." He allowed his voice to trail off as he glanced to the side.

Harry stood and started gathering his things. "I need to go repay Severus for the truth potion. I can't do this... I-"

Draco grabbed Harry and sat him back down. "You need to stay and finish answering their questions. You can Harry, I believe you can. You defeated the Dark Lord, you can do this."

Harry started thinking about things that might make him cry in order to force some tears into his eyes, and when he succeeded, he looked at Draco. "But I could have lost you this time... When I killed Voldemort, you were safe."

"That's preposterous. No one was safe when you fought You-Know-Who." The second auror huffed.

"Harry put me into a safe-house because my role as a spy was compromised." Draco explained, which was true. "I wasn't at the final battle."

"Lord Potter, I believe we have all of the information we need." The first auror said softly. "You are free to go." He dodged the death-glares sent at him by his female partner.

Harry nodded and allowed himself to be helped up by Draco. Once they'd apparated back to the Manor, Severus and Dudley, who were reading in the sitting room, welcomed them back. "How was it?" Severus asked.

"It was bloody brilliant!" Draco exclaimed with a broad smile on his face. "Harry was so good, those aurors didn't suspect a thing!"

"Well the female one did." Harry said, straightening himself up. "But she couldn't prove anything."

"What happened?" Dudley asked. Harry and Draco went into everything that had been asked, the things the Aurors wanted to know, and how Harry played victim scared of losing his friend. Draco told them about his little motivational speech telling him he could do this, and Harry informed them about how the blond had removed his robe because he was 'hot', and inadvertently shown the mark his father left him.

A ghost of a smile crossed Snape's lips. "You would have made a good spy." He told Harry.

"I think so too. That bitch was probing my mind with legilimency trying to see if I was telling the truth. I made it look like I was having flashbacks to the final battle when I came in and saw Draco at a stand-off with Lucius." Harry smirked. "It wasn't that hard really. She was nothing compared to you Snape. I could have kept her out if I had wanted, but that would have arisen too much suspicion."

Draco piped up, "Who's watching the cauldron? Didn't you start Dudley's potion last night?"

Severus nodded. "Indeed. I currently have a monitoring charm over it, and in exactly 37 minutes, I will be required to insert the final ingredient. Potter, when it's your turn to watch it in three hours, you shall need to stir it 50 times clockwise. I'll leave a note in case you forget. Unless you'd rather I do it before you start your shift."

Harry put his hands on his hips. "Hey now, I'm not that bad at potions anymore!"

"With 6 years of watching you fail miserably, and a month of seeing you pass exceptionally, I think I shall not take my chances." Snape replied.

"Ye of little faith." Harry retorted, flopping down into a chair.

"Take care not to destroy your chair Potter, I've no intention of replacing it should you mutilate the one thing in the sitting room that is completely yours." Severus stated, flipping a page in his book.

"I'd just buy another and set it up in here like I did this one." The young wizard said haughtily. "Oh that reminds me. I need to set up two memories."

Snape raised an eyebrow and looked at the young man, willing him to continue. "I told the people at the Ministry today that I needed to repay you for the veritaserum, and that I needed to see if Dudley was okay. So I need you two to act for a few minutes while I pretend to be all sad and get that over with. We'll do it later tonight though, I'll 'meet you' at a pub and get all that over with."

The two nodded their agreement, and Draco immediately set out to give Dudley acting instructions.

* * *

><p>Draco came into the room that held the cauldron with Dudley's potion. What he walked in on was nothing short of confusing. Severus and Harry were glaring at each other, in what appeared to be some sort of stand off.<p>

Snape was the first to break the glare. "No no no Potter. Put more emotion behind your scowl, you have to believe you're angry."

Harry's face softened and he nodded. He shook his head, drew in a deep breath, and returned to glaring.

Severus set his own glare back to his face. "Curl your upper lip a bit, like this." He demonstrated. Harry attempted to do so, but didn't quite make it. Snape's face went back to normal and he shook his head. "Think of it like a reverse patronus without the magic. Use a memory that fills you with rage."

Harry drew in another breath, and nodded again. He closed his eyes, gathered a memory, and glared strongly. His face was angry and a 'don't-mess-with-me' look spread across it. He growled a bit and bore some of his teeth. Severus nodded. "There you are. Whatever you just did, do it again when you feel the urge."

"What the hell are you doing?" Draco asked. "Harry, you look downright scary."

Harry smiled and stood a little straighter. "Good. Snape's been teaching me how to do that glare he uses on the students to frighten them."

"Why did you want to learn that?" The blond asked, slightly confused.

"To use on people when they won't leave me alone in public in case Snape's not around to glare at them for me."

Draco shook his head. "Why didn't Uncle Severus just glare at them before instead of slinking into stores and locking the doors?"

"At the time, Potter was attempting to keep his public relations in good standing." Severus replied.

"And now, I figure that since I am changing around my life still, that I can discard whatever they think of me. Voldemort's dead, I have no reason to try and play nice with them, they can all go sod off." Harry explained.

"Makes sense I guess." Draco stated. "Well, it's my turn to watch the potion."

"A Malfoy, readily agreeing to do labor. Will wonders never cease?" Harry said, raising a sardonic eyebrow. He then thought back to the morning he'd been ordered to go to that party, and laughed loudly, losing all of his composure.

"I think he's lost his mind." Draco tentatively said.

"Agreed." Severus consented.

"No no." Harry chuckled. "I just remembered when we went to the party, that morning getting dressed in the robes Snape picked out. At the time, I had thought that Snape was trying to mold me into a younger version of himself." He wrapped his arm around his midsection. "And with the... The glaring thing, and what I just said to you, I... I believe it!" He lost himself to the giggles again. "Just think what McGonagall would say if I showed up wearing those robes and doing that glaring thing."

Severus released an amused sound, and Draco had a smile plastered on his face. "Well, if your hair keeps growing as it has, you'll begin to look like him too. That would creep her out." The young savior's hair had been growing quite rapidly, and was now just past his ears. In another month's time, it would almost reach his shoulders if it followed the growing trend it had been on. They'd deduced that to being another side-effect of taking Voldemort's power.

Harry's eyes widened. "Oh My God... I just got an idea." His grin never faltered.

Severus stared at him. "Don't tell me this has to do with what she offered you."

"What did she offer you?" Draco asked.

Harry nodded . "It has everything to do with it." He filled them in on his plan, which sent chuckles through Draco, and caused Severus to cover his face with his hand and desperately try not to show how hilarious he found this idea. Granted, he probably thought it was hilarious because he had smoked earlier that day.

* * *

><p>"Okay, so I just drink it?" Dudley asked.<p>

The three wizards before him nodded. Harry spoke, "And when it's finished, we'll go and get you a wand."

Dudley nodded, tilted his head back, and drank the potion. He stuck out his tongue and made a face accompanied with a gagging noise at the taste. For a few minutes, nothing happened, and right when he was about to say that maybe it didn't work, a loud boom sounded within the room followed by a green and purple light that surrounded the young man.

When the light died down, Draco, Harry, and Severus were sitting on the floor against walls. Snape recovered first, then stated, "And to answer your earlier question, that is why we chose a room with nothing in it."

"That was WICKED!" Dudley said, an almost feral grin spread across his face. "It felt like something inside me was twisting and pulling and then suddenly wooshed out of my chest!"

Draco shook his head. "Gotta get him a wand now, right?" He asked.

Harry groaned and stood up, muttering in agreement. They'd made their way Ollivander's and Dudley was quickly set up with a wand. As they exited the shop, Dudley asked, "Hey, can I try out a spell?"

"What has Hermione already taught you?" Harry inquired.

"Uhh, she's taught me the one to make light, the disarming charm, and the one that repairs things." At their odd looks, he added, "She told me not to actually say the names of the spells when holding a wand until I was ready to practice, in case it accidentally worked."

Harry nodded. "Alright then, try Reparo on that barrel." He cast a quick Reducto onto it so it could be repaired.

Dudley pointed his wand at the barrel, concentrated, and said, "Reparo!" The broken bits of wood flew back together, but not quite perfectly, making the barrel oddly shaped and full of holes.

"That was... decent for your first try." Harry complimented. Draco nodded, but Severus didn't do or say anything to the effect.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Nearly 8 weeks later it was time to start up the yearly ritual of offering help to the town. Harry and Severus had grown quite accustomed to each other, and even had their first five fights as a couple. Plus, the sex was great.

A knock came to the door of the Manor which Severus went to go and personally open instead of sending a house-elf. He came back in a few minutes later with Lorraine, the lady they'd met in town a little while back, and Harry and Dudley stood to greet her. Draco was clearing out three of the Manor's front rooms for use later that morning. They were all dressed in muggle clothes.

"Well, it's good to meet you again." She stated, glancing at the two young men in front of her. "We'll need to set you up with proper clothing protection." She handed each of them an apron, and they glanced to Severus, who smirked in return.

"They're in case any of the medicine spills on you." The dark wizard told them.

He handed a small bottle to the woman, and she drank it down, grimaced, then smiled. "I swear, that tastes worse and worse every year. Alright then lovelies, let's go over some ground rules. One, no one is to do any magic in front of the muggles."

Harry's eyes grew wide. "How did you know about magic? I thought you were a muggle."

She shook her head. "No dear. I'm a squib. Professor Snape here took me from my home when I was a child because my parents didn't want a non-magical person living there. Got adopted by a family here thanks to him."

"It's like there's a whole other side to you I've never seen." Harry told the man.

Severus smirked. "That's because your assessment is correct. There is."

"Anyway, now back to the rules. Two, you may not slip up and call them potions. If at any time you think you may call what you hand out a potion, you are to zip your lip, and not say a word. It is medicine to these people, and that's what it shall be referred to. Got that?" At the round of nods, she continued. "Three, you will be assisting Professor Snape here in screening the children and new patients."

Harry looked inquisitively at her. "Screening them for what?" He asked.

"Why magic of course. Professor Snape has been screening everyone that comes to him for magic using muffins. He gives me a potion that I put into muffin batter when I cook them, then I hand the muffins out. When he gets them one on one, he asks them what color they think a certain picture is under the guise of an eye exam for color-blindness, if they reply with blue, then they're a muggle. If they reply with yellow, then they're a squib. If they reply with red, they're a wizard or witch. And if they reply with grey, they're color-blind." She stated simply.

"How will we know who has been screened already?" Dudley asked.

"You will each get a sort of form, and when someone enters, you ask their name, they tell you, you write it down, and the paper is spelled to give a short biography if they've been here before. The bio includes their screening results, and if nothing at all shows up on the paper, you give them another paper that'll be under the form on your clipboard for them to fill out with known allergies and whatnot. When you get the paper back, you put it on top of the magical form, the information is transfered from one to the other, and you make sure they eat a muffin."

"Alright, I think I can remember that." Harry said, a bit uneasily.

"Not to worry, you'll be practicing on Draco and I." She told them.

"I get to be a test subject? Oh joy." Draco stated, wiping his hands and walking into the room. "You telling them about the whole screening thing?"

She nodded, then turned back to the other two. "Now, fourth and final, Draco and I will be bringing people in who can't make it on their own. The elderly, people confined to wheelchairs, and the like. You two, are to stay here while we do that, and take care of the early birds. The doors don't officially open until 8 am. Since it's barely 5 at the moment, you will be practicing until 6:30. Remember, you are going to be working for 72 hours straight, so if Professor Snape gives you a pepper-up potion, take it and don't argue. Also, refer to him as Dr. Snape."

"What do we do if someone says they don't like muffins, but hasn't been screened yet?" Harry asked.

"There will be a small stock of the potion in the fridge, try to get them to accept a drink, and pour it into some of the apple cider I brought." She informed.

"What do we do if someone tries to go past the three front room and sees all of the magical objects here?" Dudley asked.

"The doors that lead to those rooms are magically charmed so anyone but us currently present can't get past them. If someone were to try and go through there, they'd forget why they went to the door, and wander back to their seat."

"I see they are asking all the right questions." Severus stated from the doorway. "Everyone up and over here." He ordered.

Lorraine and Draco went quickly to his side, while Harry and Dudley looked at each other curiously then followed. Severus pulled his wand and summoned around thirty chairs in the large room, followed by three wand holsters that attached to the wrist, and a stop-light. Slipping his wand back into his sleeve, he said, "Go put the light at the gate, then come back and start practicing."

Harry was about to ask what it was for, but Draco stopped him, "It's to let those coming know whether or not we're full before they reach the Manor. It's about a half a mile from the gate to the Manor's door, so it cuts out their walking some."

Harry nodded, then he and Dudley went to go place it and came back ready and willing to practice. After the timer struck at 6:30, Lorraine and Draco went out to go get those who couldn't come by themselves, and the first early-bird showed up. Harry asked his name, wrote it down, and saw that they were a muggle and returning for their third year in a row. He showed him to a seat and said, "Sorry, but you'll have to wait a while. We don't technically open unt-"

"Until 8 I know. I just preferred to be early so I could get this done with. Last year I waited until the last minute and almost wasn't able to be seen. Say, I don't remember you, are you working for Dr. Snape?" The man inquired.

"Yes Sir. My cousin and I helping him out. It seems as though the amount of people coming these days was a bit much for Lorraine to handle all on her own." He replied politely.

The man nodded. "Yes yes. I can see that. Hopefully with you two here everyone can still be seen. I'd venture to guess that there's never been a year where someone who wanted it couldn't be seen, but it was almost that way last year for several of us. Dr. Snape was kind enough to keep his doors open for another day though. Made sure everyone was treated. He's a kind man that. Plus his herbal remedies are better than any pills I've ever taken."

"You ought to stop that slander you're speaking on my behalf Mr. Kalken. I am in no way a 'kind' man." Severus said leaning against the doorway.

The man smiled a bit, letting out a soft chuckle. "I'll never understand how you remember all our names every year without even trying. We don't even see you round town for a good 8 months of the year, save Christmas."

"That is quite a talent." Harry stated, referring to his ability to also name the students at Hogwarts easily as well.

* * *

><p>At the end of the third day, as the last patient walked out with her child, Harry sat down and sighed. A different small child ran up to him, about 7 years old, pulling on his sleeve and asked, "Where'd my mummy go?"<p>

Harry looked at the girl and petted her hair. "Let's go ask Dr. Snape, alright?" He had no idea why this girl was running around the Manor, or where her parents were.

He led the child to Severus, who crouched down at eye-level with the girl. "What brings you back Mary?"

"I don't know." She said. "I can't find Mummy. And the lady said I had to stay here."

Lorraine ran into the room, and when she saw Mary, she heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness I found you. Don't go running off like that again!"

"Why is Mary not with her family?" Severus asked, raising to his feet.

"Mary here's a witch bent on accidental magic. I explained everything to her mum after she'd been screened. Woman didn't know how to handle her and asked that we find her a home that could look after her properly. Draco obliviated her mum so she wouldn't remember, and the rest of their family." She explained.

"A witch? Like those old ladies with green skin riding on brooms? What's obliviated mean? Will I ever see Mummy again?" Mary asked.

Harry smiled and shook his head. "Yes, a witch. No green skin, but yes you can ride on brooms, just not normal ones, the ones we ride are special." He skirted around the other two questions.

"Are you a witch?" She asked.

"No, I'm a wizard." He told her.

"What about all of you?" She asked. "Is everyone else here witches and wizards?"

Lorraine shook her head. "No dear, I'm a squib. That means my parents were a witch and a wizard, but I was born without magic."

"Magic's real?" Mary's eyes lit up.

"Yes, and it seems you have done some accidentally." Harry told her. He looked to Lorraine. "What did she do anyway?"

"She'd called something to her when she wanted it. Was in an argument over whatever it was."

Mary's eyes dimmed as she remembered that. "Yeah I wanted a cookie and Mummy wouldn't let me have one. The plate fell and all the cookies wound up on the floor near me."

"That sounds like an accio if I've ever heard one." Harry stated.

"What's an ax-io?" Mary asked.

Harry glanced up to Severus, who gave a silent nod, and Harry explained, "An Accio is a spell that we use to make things come to us. Like this." He pulled off his glasses, laid them down on a table, then walked to the other side of the room. Taking his wand from his sleeve, a motion that made the little girl gasp, he pointed it at his spectacles and outstretched his other arm. "Accio Glasses!" He called. His glasses flew into his empty hand and the child squealed with delight.

Dudley came into the room, followed by Draco when that happened, and Draco said, "Hey Harry. Hermione said she wanted Dudley to learn that spell, can he try?"

Dudley noticed the child and his eyes grew wide. "Draco, shut up. He doesn't know what he's talking about, Harry, stop pulling tricks in front of the child."

Mary looked confused, and Harry chuckled. "It's okay Dudley, she's a witch."

At the young man's look of relief, Severus couldn't help but smile. He was glad that Dudley took care in trying to keep their world a secret, and didn't just assume anything. Dudley piped up, "Alright then." He dropped to his knees and said, "Sorry about that, the world can't know about us, or else they might be afraid." He explained.

"Oh okay." Mary said, not quite grasping the concept.

"Go ahead and try Dudley, but don't use anything breakable. Uhhh, here, use this." He said, pulling out a bit of cotton. He transfigured it into a stuffed bear and sat it on the table. Dudley pulled out his wand and pointed it, saying, "Accio Bear!" The toy flew to him and bounced off of his head, landing at his feet. Mary giggled.

"Well that worked better than your reparo." Draco muttered.

After a few moments of silence, Harry voiced the question that was plaguing him. "What are we going to do with her?"

Severus, who had been seriously contemplating this, spoke up. "You and I must return to Hogwarts tomorrow morning to inform Minerva of your acceptance. Draco and Dudley need to go tonight for a lesson with Miss Granger. Lorraine's husband can't know of us, so that leaves only one option. She stays with us tonight, and tomorrow after our visit to Hogwarts, we take her to the Ministry."

Mary's eyes widened. "Does this mean I wont see Mummy again?"

Harry shook his head and said softly, "I'm sorry sweety, but no." Her reaction was NOT expected. Instead of crying, or becoming sad, or asking why, or trying to run away, she smiled and clapped her hands together. He narrowed his eyes, and asked, "What caused that reaction?"

"Mummy's always been mean to me." Mary explained. "She said I wasn't like the rest of them, and made me stay in my room whenever anyone came over or when they went out. She told me she didn't love me and said when I was old enough I had to go away. Everyone else was mean to me too."

Harry looked a bit sad and knelt down to her, wrapping her in a hug. "You're not like them, but you're like us. You're special. And you will have a family that loves you, I can promise you that." He let her go and looked at Severus. "I want to interview anyone the Ministry sets up for prospective parents. Can I do that?"

Snape sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, setting up a silencing charm around them so Mary wouldn't hear. "Only if you accept temporary guardianship over her. We would have to get that set up at the local court house, but we would need her mother for that."

Lorraine piped up, "I know where she lives. I can ask if she will agree to it."

Severus nodded and sighed again, releasing his nose. "We can do it tonight while Dudley's at his lesson." Harry looked elated, and the dark wizard continued. "It's only TEMPORARY guardianship. That means you are the one who takes care of her, and you are the one who signs papers. As you are an adult, I can't do anything to stop you."

Harry's smile faltered. "Do you not want me to? I..." He lowered his head. "I'm not sure... What I mean to say is... I... It's not like I asked to adopt her myself."

"No, but you certainly would if none of the possibilities show promise." Snape snapped.

Harry's face became angry, and his head raised to glare at the man. "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem? Why do you choose to ignore the obvious? Our relationship hasn't progressed to the point where I feel comfortable raising a child with you. We aren't even married yet for Merlin's sake!" The older man argued.

Harry took a step back and stared at the dark wizard. "Yet?"

Severus glared at the young man in front of him. "Yes, yet. I wouldn't have entered a relationship with you had I not looked into the possibility of marriage after a certain amount of time had passed. Surely you do the same?"

Harry shook his head. "You're willing to raise a child with me?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "Potter... What usually comes with marriage? Children! It's a logical thought process in which-"

Harry cut him off with a kiss which stunned both of them. "I never expected you to be willing to do all of that with me." He said.

"I never expected not to." The older man replied. "But I certainly never anticipated anything of the sort barely two months into this relationship."

"So does that mean you might be willing... If the other families don't work out I mean." Harry asked, looking intently into his lover's eyes.

"That means that we shall talk about this if it arises, and not sooner." Severus stated sternly. He turned to Lorraine. "I shall accompany you to the woman's house to take certain... measures to ensure she agrees to come with us. Any person who would willingly leave their child with strangers has no right to that child."

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked.

"I have some sort of... _imperial _persuasion, after all I do tend to have an authoritative air about me." Severus replied.

"You're going to use the imperius?" Harry asked astounded.

"Perhaps."

Harry nodded, and Snape released the silencing charm. Harry turned to the girl and said, "We'll be taking you to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow. You'll get to look at different families and see where you'd like to go."

Mary smiled broadly. "I never knew I could choose my own family." She stated.

"You can't usually. Only if your family puts you up for adoption." Harry explained.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The next day, Severus and Harry had gone to Hogwarts, where Harry accepted Minerva's offer of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. After that, they'd went to the Ministry, and set little Mary up in a sort of orphanage that held well taken care of magical children from muggle homes. The Ministry promised to send prospective families' files to Harry, if the three he left with turned out to be of no good.

Back at the Manor, Harry was looking through the files, and abruptly tossed the first one on a coffee table in front of him. Severus looked up and asked, "What was wrong with them?"

Harry replied, "Too many Death Eaters in the family. I will not put her somewhere that has a chance of her growing up with evil intentions."

Severus looked at the file, then nodded his head in agreement. "Seems only two of them aren't Death Eaters."

"This one looks pretty good." Harry said, handing Severus one of the papers from the file which detailed a Witch and a Wizard's personal information. "Says they've been trying for a child but haven't been able to conceive. They've got a lovely home, look at this picture." He handed the moving photograph to Snape, who looked and nodded again. Harry continued, "They look nice, but then again so did Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon when they were out with Dudley. I'll have to interview these people. Can we make them take veritaserum?"

"That's already part of the interviewing process for any adoption." Severus informed him.

"Ahh good good." Harry said, closing the file and putting it neatly to the side. He glanced over the next one which showed two witches applying for a child. Since it was well known that same-sex couples couldn't conceive without the help of a very expensive potion, one that cost more than the adoptions of three children combined, most of those couples went with adoption.

"Well this couple looks good too. I shall interview them as well." Harry stated, putting the file with the other. They sent back the first file, and Harry penned out letters to the both of the remaining couples, explaining the situation and asking them if he could come by for an interview. After owling them out, he walked over to the couch Severus was sitting on, and lay down with his head in the man's lap.

"What are you doing?" Snape asked.

"I'm relaxing. What does it look like?" Harry answered.

Draco came in around 20 minutes later and interrupted them. "We've got a bit of a problem." He said, his face red and hair matted. At the two others' inquiring looks, he continued. "Dudley was practicing one of the spells Hermione made him do, and he misfired, it hit my shield, and it bounced back then hit him. It was the Tarantallegra, and my Finite won't make his legs stop dancing."

Harry laughed, then got up to go see the spectacle. After watching his cousin, who was pleading to make it stop, he finally cast a finite which gave the young man his wish. Dudley bent down, grasping his knees. "Thanks. I needed that."

"You ought to be more careful." Harry said. "Make sure your aim is right next time." He motioned his head towards the dummy that had been conjured. "It's not that small of a target."

The two went back down to the sitting room where supper was being served. Litsy, the house-elf, turned and glared at Harry. "Harry Potter keeps Litsy from doing Litsy's job." She wagged a finger at him. "Harry Potter needs to either set up days when Harry Potter cooks, or let Litsy do it all!"

"Litsy, please, call me Harry. I've asked you that so many times. And I don't know when I will be cooking, it relaxes me and I don't plan to be un-relaxed." He complained. They'd had this argument a few times already.

The house-elf still glared, and put her hands on her waist. "Litsy won't take that for an answer. Litsy will call Harry Potter by Harry when Harry Potter learns to cooperate!" She then popped off.

Draco was trying desperately not to laugh at the scene that had just unfolded. It wasn't every day a house-elf would argue with their master, but Severus' personal house-elves were taught to always speak up should they feel mistreated in any way, and to Litsy, not cooking was mistreatment.

Dudley looked on at the blond, and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Just not used to seeing a house-elf act like that." Draco said. At Dudley's confused look, he explained about the treatment of house-elves, and how most of them weren't allowed to say things like that. Litsy, and the rest of Snape's elves were treated better than he'd ever seen.

When he was done explaining, Dudley thought for a moment. "That actually sounds like how we treated Harry for years. No talking, no complaining, punishment when he didn't complete a chore, and all that."

Harry nodded. "Except I had clothes. House-elves usually wear towels or pillowcases or something."

"All you had were my cast-offs, they weren't exactly the best clothes." Dudley said.

An owl drew their attention tapping at a window. Harry went to open it, took the letter, and gave the owl a treat. When he sat down, he opened the letter, and after reading it, groaned. "What's wrong?" Severus asked.

"Luna's asked me if I would do an interview for the Quibbler." Harry stated. "I can't just say no, she's my friend."

At the mention of the dreamy blonde, Dudley's eyes lit up. "Can you bring me then?"

Harry chuckled. "Sure thing Romeo."

"Romeo... I thought his name was Dudley." Draco said.

Severus actually chuckled at that, then explained the story of Romeo and Juliet to the young man. When he was done with the tale, Harry had also finished replying to the letter stating that in two days time, he would be willing to do an interview.

"So let me get this straight... This guy Romeo loved Juliet, but their families hate each other, so they sneak off to get together, but everything goes wrong, and Juliet takes something that sounds an awful lot like Draught of Living Death, pretends to be dead, Romeo finds her, thinks she's dead, offs himself, Juliet wakes up, sees he's dead for real, then offs herself as well?" Severus, Dudley, and Harry nodded. "Okay, so why is it okay to call someone a name that's associated with lunacy and suicide?"

Harry laughed, "The love between the two is where calling someone that name comes in. When someone has a crush and wants to expand on it, muggles will call them Romeo or Juliet, depending on their gender."

"So like, if your Weasley friend, Ron, were to kiss Hermione, you could call him Romeo and it would be funny?" Draco asked.

"In a, 'way to go Romeo' kind of way, yeah, maybe." Dudley said.

"Muggles are weird." Draco shook his head.

"Pff. You're telling me." Harry muttered. "Thought I was one for 11 years, and I still agree."

* * *

><p>After the two interviews the following day, Harry and Severus were found at the Ministry, discussing Mary's new family. The first couple had won out, so to speak, because they had the added security in their home that the second couple didn't have. They said their goodbyes to Mary, and headed off. If there was one thing about the Ministry of Magic, it's that with Shacklebolt as Minister, everything went faster and smoother than it ever had before.<p>

Harry lay his head on Severus shoulder while they walked down the street in the town near the Manor, and sighed. Snape squeezed his hand a bit. "I know you wanted to keep in touch with her, but really, in a few years she won't remember who we are, just what we did."

"I know." Harry said, burying his arm behind Severus' robe and squeezing the man. "I just feel... I dunno, sad I guess that I won't get to see her anymore."

"At least you got to say goodbye." Snape consoled him.

"True... Hey, what say you and I go out to dinner tonight, just us."

"I say that's a splendid idea. Where would you like to go?"

"Somewhere dark. The light seems to be hurting my eyes lately." Harry said.

Snape looked slightly concerned at this. "Oh? How long is lately?"

"All today and part of yesterday." The younger wizard explained.

"Hmm, take off your glasses and let me see." Severus ordered. After looking into his eyes, he couldn't see anything wrong, so they slipped into the forest and he ran a quick diagnostic spell. What he found surprised him. "Close your eyes and let them readjust." He ordered.

Harry did that, opened his eyes, and was about to ask for his glasses back when he said, "Holy shit I can see."

"Just as I thought. It seems you've also gained the Dark Lord's eyesight." Severus commented.

"Well at least my hair stopped growing back three weeks ago." Harry commented. "I wonder just how much of me is going to continue to change."

"There's no way to be sure. You're already doing many things that none of us expected. Though I must say, without those awful lenses on your face, your eyes really look... Exceptional. I must also say that I like your hair as it is. It's much tidier." Snape commented.

Harry smirked and leaned in to kiss the man, then they headed back to the manor.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

After the interview with Luna the next day, Harry and Severus stopped by the manor to drop Dudley off and get their trunks that were being packed for them by the house-elves. Severus was going over some ground rules with Draco and Dudley. Harry quickly changed into the robes that Severus had picked out at Madame Malkin's, and waved his hand to simply make the buttons all go together as they should. _Merlin that's useful. Glad Snape taught that to me._ When he finally made it back to the living room, he smirked at the scene in front of him.

"And no parties. If I come back Christmas to find ANY Weasley Wizarding Wheezes products in this house, I will behead you both. And make SURE you go to the Three Broomsticks thrice a week for your lessons with Miss Granger. If I find that you have missed an appointment, and I will learn of it, I shall dice you up and use your various bodily pieces for potions ingredients."

Harry laughed aloud at that one, and turned everyone's attention to him. Draco and Dudley gaped and Severus just looked quite stunned. "So you're really going through with it?" Draco asked.

"Of course. I don't make a plan just to back out at the last minute." Harry replied.

Severus shook his head. "I can't believe you talked me into allowing you to do this. Minerva is going to have my hide... Once she picks herself up off the floor that is."

Harry chuckled and they made their way to Hogwarts. It was the week before term began, and as protocol, the teachers arrived early to get their schedules in order and memorize the new names on their lists. Minerva wasn't in the Headmistress' office when they came, so they took their lists and went to their separate rooms.

That evening, they were informed to come to the Teacher's lounge for a quick meeting with just Severus, Harry, Minerva, Flitwick, and Sprout. Harry waited around a bit to ensure that the others got there first, then made his appearance.

He burst into the room, doors flying open, a glare set on his face that said he was ready to hand out detentions. His robes billowed out behind him, and his hair, which was just past his shoulders now (the same length as Severus' I might add) settled, framing his face as he halted while the doors behind him slammed closed.

True to Severus' words, Minerva fell from her seat and her bum hit the floor. Flitwick jumped up a few feet, and Sprout nearly fainted. Severus, on the other hand, looked perfectly serious and just sat there, awaiting the others to compose themselves.

"Harry Potter, what is the meaning of this?" Minerva asked, picking herself up from the floor. "No, I can see you didn't do this, Severus Snape, what did you do to Mr. Potter?" She demanded, taking her seat and glaring at the dark wizard.

"I don't know what you're talking about woman." Snape answered, his face a stony mask.

Harry took the empty seat across from Snape and interlaced his fingers together. When the Headmistress looked at him, he simply glared into space. Minerva muttered. "Well, I never."

Severus couldn't help it any longer, and he let out a long and dark laugh. Harry, who found that laughter was contagious, broke character as a smile spread across his face and his own body betrayed him. "Dammit Snape, you were supposed to be the calm one so I could make it through the first meeting!" He said through chuckles.

"I know... I know... I can't help it... She just looks so... Well... Look!" Severus replied, gesturing toward the woman who was obviously confused and trying to figure out what was going on. She had never seen Severus laugh like that before, - technically she'd never seen him laugh at all- and she had never seen anyone try to mimic the man's entire look and personality.

Harry's laughter finally calmed, and he clutched his side. "Well I've gone and broke character now, no use in trying to still be evil mean and nasty."

Severus had composed himself finally, and looked over to the young man, a smirk playing on his face that threatened to turn into a smile. "Yes, perhaps I should play innocent, kind, and fun next time."

"I think that'd be grand. It would surely scare your second through seventh years out of their wits." He replied.

"Indeed." The dark wizard replied. "But I fear it would confuse my first years who've never been in my class before. I wouldn't wish to muddle that speech I give every year with happiness."

"What is going on here?" Minerva demanded again.

"Well, if you must know, I was planning on acting like Snape all through this meeting. Just to see your reaction." He grinned at the woman.

"Now listen here Mr. Potter, one Severus Snape is bad enough, we don't need two. The children get enough detentions as it is around here." She chided.

"Oh no worries, the act wasn't going to last past the first meeting anyway." The young savior explained.

"Yes, well... Ahem... I called you all here to discuss placing Mr. Potter as head of Gryffindor house. Since you three are the other house heads, you have say in it. As you know, the previous head of house quit last year." She stated.

Flitwick voiced his opinion first. "As long as he doesn't act like... well that all year, I have no problem with it."

Sprout voiced hers second. "I think that he's a bit young to be honest. I mean, he's only just turned 18, and he's already got the pressure of being the youngest teacher in Hogwarts' history. Not to mention he will be teaching those who he had gone to school with. I'd rather not see him have to be burdened with Head of House position. I don't want to see him get hurt."

"I respect your opinion Madame Sprout, but I must disagree." Severus stated. "I have worked with him closely in the past few months, and I am under the assumption that the pressure would in no way affect him negatively. If anything, it would push him to strive to be more, and seeing as he is the prime example of Defense Against the Dark Arts, after all he did put an end to Lord Voldemort, that same act also shows that he has the courage and bravery to accept post as Head of Gryffindor House."

Minerva looked on as if the man had suddenly sprouted another head. "Why Severus, I never thought I would hear you say anything like that about Mr. Potter... Or Gryffindor for that matter."

Harry looked to Severus and made a motioning with his hands that looked as if they were holding each other, then tilted his head ever so slightly to the headmistress. Snape gave a short nod. Harry spoke. "You may as well get used to it. I seem to have brought out a side of him that he'd buried long ago when we began a relationship."

Minerva nodded a bit, "Yes, I can se- WHAT? Now see here-" Her tone was angry when she was cut off.

"And I have also unearthed a side of myself that I had previously no idea existed until last year. You will find, Minerva, that I am not the same boy you taught, and I am not going to be manipulated anymore as many have tried to do in my past. While I have already accepted post of DADA Professor, I may refuse post as Head of House if you attempt in any way to stop my relationship with your Slytherin Head of House."

The woman shook her head. "That wasn't why I'm angry Mr. Potter. I'm angry because you kept this from me! I've asked you to keep in touch after you finished school, and you promised you would, but you haven't written me once, and now a week before term, I find out that you're dating my potions professor. I would have liked to know this long ago, as I could have made arrangements for your rooms to be a bit closer. And don't you go threatening me boy, you may not be a student, but even the teachers have similar punishments to detentions if they make me mad enough."

A bright smile flashed across Harry's face. "I am glad we understand each other then. I apologize for not informing you earlier."

"And you, Severus, why had you not informed me?" She demanded.

The dark wizard simply scoffed. "I've never informed you of my relations in the past Minerva, why would I start now?"

The woman shook her head. "Alright, alright. Well, it's two to one, Mr. Potter, should you choose, you are to be Head of Gryffindor house."

The man in question nodded slightly. "I do choose it." He looked towards Madame Sprout. "And no worries Pomona. I may be young, but I grew up long ago. I shall strive not to be hurt, but if I am, I shall see one of you four immediately." He thought for a moment, then added, "Or Poppy, if my previous record of getting hurt continues." That statement drew amused chuckles from three of the others, and a smirk from one Severus Snape.

"Well, that's all sorted out. You may all get back to whatever you were doing. Remember, first Hogsmeade weekend falls under Professors Flitwick and Sinistra."

* * *

><p>By the time term started, the other professors had already been informed of Severus and Harry's relationship. To many of them, it came as a surprise the morning after they'd all arrived when the two in question walked into the Great Hall hand in hand and sat at the single table within the room next to each other. Professor Firenze, Minerva, and the other two heads of house were the only ones who didn't seem fazed by it. Firenze had simply stated that he was glad his dream was in fact true, as he feared turning into another Trelawney.<p>

Upon Harry's first class, it was third year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, he was accosted by many questions asking where the real teacher was, and why he'd been introduced at the feast, as he was just another student to them before that. This trend continued throughout the day, until his last class, first year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, who simply wanted to know why he was teaching there without the proper degrees.

When he went to Severus' office that night after supper, he sighed and sank down in a chair. "If one more person asks me where the real DADA teacher is, I'm going to scream." He muttered.

"You still have another three days worth of that question left." Severus said, marking a paper in front of him. "Remember, not all of your students are seen in one day."

"Don't tell me you gave essays already." Harry said, glancing at the 'P' scrawled across the top of a paper.

"Potter, have you ever known me to give an essay on the first day? I always save that until the second. This is homework from the summer." At Harry's widening eyes, he quickly added, "Stop worrying. The previous DADA professor was a dunce and failed to assign homework... Ever." He scowled. "I expect you to change that."

"Thank goodness." Harry sighed. A knock came to the door, and both Harry and Severus stood. "Well, I'll see you later then."

"Yes, after 8 tonight the detentions should be over." Snape replied, putting on his impassive glare.

Harry decided to have a little fun, and walked to the door with Snape in tow behind him. He opened it, then said, "Alright, see you later Professor Snape." Then leaned up to kiss the man on the cheek and walked out.

Severus didn't look at all fazed, and the child coming for detention, a fourth year Gryffindor girl, gaped at them. Snape rolled his eyes, "Are you simply going to stand there and gawk? Need I remind you that you are here to serve detention!" He snapped. The young girl scuttled inside and the door slammed behind her with a resounding thud.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Harry glanced around his classroom. It was the last period of that Friday, and he had already handed out two detentions. One to a fifth year Gryffindor who wouldn't stop trying to get him to ease up on their lesson plan because as he was around their age, he was supposed to be, 'cool'. The other to a second year Slytherin for using a dark curse on another student.

Thankfully for him, Severus was in a relatively decent mood when he dragged the Slytherin boy down to the dungeons to have a talk with his head of house. Of course, Severus being in a good mood simply meant that he had a scowl on his face and felt like throttling a student. Harry knocked at the door, the child firmly in place thanks to a trailing charm that forced him to follow his professor.

"Enter!" Severus barked from the other side. Harry did just that. "Professor Potter, what do you want?" He asked, noticing the child and forcing himself to add that Professor bit on to his lover's name.

"Mr. Parker seems to have hexed another student. Judging by the way the other student appeared afterwards, I would have to assume it was the Sectumsempra. Can't be positive though, he refuses to tell me." Harry stated in an almost bored tone, then released the trailing charm.

The young boy stepped to the side, his chin held high. Severus interlaced his fingers. "Mr. Parker, would you care to explain this, and where you learned such a curse?" He did not like this one bit. He had been the one to invent that blasted spell, and he was regretting it every year more and more.

The offer to have a chance to explain himself to Snape shocked him, as the man had never done that with any students before, unless he was simply being sarcastic. He chose to put on a brave front, and nodded. "My uncle was a Death Eater and he taught the spell to me. I cursed the Gryffindor because he called me a Death Eater by association."

"Why didn't you simply tell me that earlier? You would have still gotten in trouble, but the other student would have as well!" Harry snapped.

Severus raised an eyebrow, and the young boy looked like he wanted to say something, so the man gestured that he should. "Professor Potter, do you expect me to believe that you would have seriously punished one of your own for name calling?"

Harry rubbed his temples and sat down in a chair. "Parker, I most certainly would have, and now that I know what they did, I will. What house someone is in has no matter. We worked hard to bring Voldemort and his Death Eaters down, and accusing a student of being a Death Eater simply because he has a family member who happened to be one is no joking matter, it's not simply name calling. You were well within your right to be angry, but you were in the wrong for using a curse of that magnitude."

The child's eyes narrowed in confusion, and he looked to his house head. Severus cleared his throat and spoke, "Mr. Parker, what you have done is inexcusable. You could have killed another student, then you would be no better than the Death Eaters he claimed you to be in the running with. 15 points from Slytherin for your actions. Whatever punishment Professor Potter has given you, it shall be doubled."

"Detention with Filch tomorrow and next weekend. I'll write him a note telling him he's got 2 more then. I need to pop by the infirmary to give the child who called him a Death Eater a stern talking to and to take points as well." Harry commented. He left the room, but the child stayed behind.

"Professor Snape, what happened to you? You've changed."

"What happened? Mr. Parker, I am a free man, and how I choose to dictate myself is strictly my own business." Severus replied, the underlying message being that he was now free and no longer had to play spy. "Kindly leave my office, unless you have another question."

The boy shook his head and made his way from the room. He decided to go by the infirmary to apologize to the other student for hexing him like that. As he opened the doors, he heard yelling.

"You prat, you're supposed to be on my side, not the snake's! You're supposed to be a lion!"

"Another 5 points from Gryffindor for your insult Mr. Johansen. It seems as though the only thing you are capable of is reverting to calling others by derogatory names. I've tried being polite with you." Harry replied calmly.

"You're turning into Snape, Harry. If this is polite, you'd make a great honorary Slytherin. I bet the little git got away with hexing me, didn't he?" The bed-ridden boy yelled.

"It is not your business what Mr. Parker did or did not get for his actions. Your business is your own actions, and for the last time, stop calling me Harry. I am no longer your peer, I am your professor, and I demand the respect that comes with that post. Another 5 points for blatant disrespect of your teachers. You've already gained two detentions today, would you care to assess the saying that the third time is the charm?"

"You'd better be glad you're not playing quidditch anymore, or I'd round up the boys and we'd give you what's coming to ya in the locker room."

Harry slammed his hands down on his chair and stood. "Mr. Johansen, I will not tolerate your threats! You are hereby banned from quidditch for the remainder of the school year."

"Sure, just keep laying it on. That little bastard is gonna get what's coming to him when my friends hear about this, and you will too! Hmph, it's not like it'll matter if you tell anyone I threatened you anyway, I'll just deny it. I've never got caught in my life before this year, what makes you think anyone would believe you?"

"Because I heard the conversation Mr. Johansen." Poppy called, stepping behind a curtain. "I shall give my account of it as well.

"The only reason you never got caught before was because I allowed you to use me and took the blame for all of your misgivings. You continue to assume that you may bully me into submission just as you did before, but it will no longer work. I am a changed man Mr. Johansen. Starting immediately upon your release from the infirmary, you will be serving detentions with me every Thursday evening at 6 pm until the Christmas holidays." Harry seethed.

Parker, who was lurking behind the door, felt his anger grow at the boy he'd hexed earlier. Partly because he was trying to bully another person, partly because he called the teacher who had been kind to him names, and partly for an unknown reason. He just felt really angry on Professor Potter's behalf.

Harry felt the fluctuation in magic when Parker's anger had risen, and called out, "Mr. Parker, what are you doing here?" Without even glancing back.

The young man opened the door the rest of the way and walked up to the scene. "I came by to apologize to him because I felt bad for taking such a strong offensive stance on him, but now that I've heard some of the things he's had to say, I don't feel bad for it anymore, so I retract my apology."

Harry smirked and ruffled the boy's hair, to all three of his temporary companions' confusion. "You're a good kid, just gotta get ahold of your anger some."

"See! See! He favors the Slytherins! He's supposed to be a Gryffindor! Wait till I-"

"Wait till you what Frank? Wait till you tell someone that I complimented a student when they deserved it? Or wait, are you going to tell them about how you always shift the blame of things to someone else to keep attention from yourself?" Harry was a bit angry, and he was really beginning to lose his temper. That stupid Gryffindor chose to argue back with everything the man said, and Potter was quickly seeing red, especially since this was turning out to be similar to an incident in his past concerning the same young man.

Severus felt a strange heat coming from his bracelet... Harry had convinced him to wear one right before they came back to Hogwarts in case one of them got into trouble and the other wasn't around. _Oh shit, He's in trouble! _He called out, "Shimmering fur", the very odd activation phrase that Harry had set.

It acted as a port-key and took him directly to the other bracelet, which was currently being worn by a very angry Professor. The first thing that he noticed was he'd just walked into the middle of a yelling match.

"-what you did to me three years ago in the locker room?" Harry yelled. Poppy had grabbed Mr. Parker and backed away from the two young men in front of him.

"You mean what you brought on yourself!" The boy snapped back.

"YOU FUCKING IMBICILE!" Harry roared and his magic flared.

"What the hell is going on here?" Severus demanded, stalking up to the bed. He grabbed the injured boy's clothes and pulled him up. "What the hell did you do him?"

"Leave..." Harry said. "Take the boys and leave." He closed his eyes tightly, taking deep breaths trying to calm himself from the fury and rage he felt.

Snape released the young man and turned to his lover. "Harry-"

"LEAVE! NOW!" The young professor bellowed. His arm pointed straight to the doors, which opened instantaneously, slamming against the walls.

Snape wrapped an arm around Harry, who flinched while the injured boy scrambled to do as he was told for once. Poppy was trying to get Parker out of the room, but the boy was refusing.

When Harry felt the arm around his waist, he struggled. "Severus don't. I can't promise you'll be safe this time!" He pleaded angrily, finally opening his eyes.

Severus, Parker, and Poppy all noticed that his eyes weren't all green anymore, but had traces of red that shown brightly. "You will not go through this alone!" Snape yelled, tightening his grip.

"I swear to Merlin, Sev, if you don't let me go this instant, I'll make it burn!" Harry tried. He really didn't want the dark wizard there in case he lost it again. He didn't want to chance hurting the man.

"Make it burn all you like, I am not leaving you!" Snape said, his voice very low in contrast to his earlier yelling.

In a flash of light, Poppy used the chance to haul the child from the room. She'd gotten as far as the hallway when she heard a scream coming from the room she'd just left. "Go get the Headmistress, NOW!" She ordered to Parker, who ran off to do just that.

She went back into the room and saw Severus on the ground, clinging to Harry's legs as if his life depended on it, small yells of pain escaping his lips. When she looked at the younger professor, she nearly jumped back. He was standing there, completely red-eyed, his arm outstretched, and a wicked smile adorning his face.

When he finally moved his arm, Snape used the man's robes to pull himself up and wrapped the young man in an embrace, then started whispering into his ear.

Poppy was sure the dark wizard had a death wish, but she quickly realized he was helping as she watched Harry's face contort into surprise, then pleasure, then confusion, and the red seep from his irises.

This is what Minerva ran in on, and she looked to Madame Pomfrey for an explanation. They turned their attention back to Harry, who was struggling to get loose. "I told you not to stay, I told you to leave! Why didn't you listen? I could have killed you, you ungrateful bastard. Dammit Sev, let me go!"

"No." Severus said, his voice hoarse and raspy. "If I release you, you'll run like you did the last two times."

"I could have KILLED you!" The younger man yelled, beating his fists against the other man's chest.

"Yes, you could have also spelled my clothing to be pink." Severus stated.

Harry buried his face into Snape's shoulder, and his body silently shook. Poppy and Minerva wanted to console the young man, who was obviously having a hard time. Harry said something too low to be heard by them, then Snape burst out into surprised laughter. The women looked on like he'd lost his mind.

Harry's body continued to shake, and Snape whispered something back to him, which caused it to increase in its vibration. Finally, Harry raised his head and more laughter was heard ringing throughout the hospital wing. Finally calming down, he wrapped his arms around Severus' neck, and hugged him deeply. "Thank you Sev." He kissed the man in front of him. "I needed that."

"What in the world was that all about?" Minerva asked.

Harry turned his head to her. Severus was the one who answered her. "He threatened to transfigure my robes into a French maid's uniform, I simply told him that I thought it would look better on him, as he has the frame for it."

"Yeah, but where would we get a feather duster around these parts?" Harry smirked.

"I could always try to craft a charm similar to the Orchideous that works with feathers instead of flowers." Snape offered.

"Mmm you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Harry asked, leaning up to kiss the man again.

He returned the kiss, then asked, "What did that boy do to you?"

Harry shook his head. "Ganged up on me in the locker rooms out at the pitch with some 7th years when I was in 4th year. They beat the shit out of me because I said I didn't want to play quidditch anymore."

"That hardly constitutes deserving the beating." Snape offered.

"Yeah I know. They were pretty brutal, but I got my revenge." He flashed an almost evil smile. "Their revenges don't begin until they graduate, or are expelled from Hogwarts though. Made sure of that. He doesn't even know it's coming yet."

Raising an eyebrow, the older professor looked at the young man before him. "Are you sure you don't have a little Slytherin in you?"

"No, but I did last night." Harry coyly said. "Though it wasn't that little." Severus growled and bent down to nibble the young man's neck.

"Ahem." Minerva drew their attention back. "While it's lovely to see you two getting along so well, I do need an explanation as to what happened here, and I do not wish to hear about your personal exploits."

"Aww, but Minerva, you got on to me last time I didn't tell you what I'd been doing." Harry pouted. "I was just following orders." The woman glared at him sternly, and he rolled his eyes. His attempt at distraction didn't work well. "Alright, let's go to your office then. This will be a long story."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"My lord Harry, that's horrifying!" Minerva gasped. They had been discussing what happened with the young man when he was pushed by Mr. Johansen to the point of losing control on his powers, and why he had those new powers to begin with.

"You're telling me. Every time I let loose like that, I'm afraid I'll turn into the next Dark Lord." Harry shivered a bit.

"Why did you not inform me of this earlier?" The headmistress asked.

With a sigh Harry explained. "Because I wasn't aware that I could lose it so easily earlier. The first time that happened, Lucius had broken into our home to kill Draco, who by then had become friends with me. A very irritating, pompous, spoiled, aristocratic friend, but a friend none-the-less.

Suddenly, before I knew it, I felt a rush of magic, and Lucius was in the air. It was like my mind was split in two. Half of me knew what I was doing could kill him, and that we needed to get all of the information we could before I went that far.

The other half of me felt a rush at the prospect of causing the man to lose his life. That rush was so powerful that I actually liked the thought of him dying, or at the very least, being tortured until he was black, blue, and bloody all over. Everyone told me I looked happy when I did that."

Poppy nodded solemnly. "I apologize for what I am about to say Mr. Potter, but I will not hold back information that could prove crucial. When I came back into the infirmary after I told Mr. Parker to get you, Minerva, Harry was standing over Severus with a wicked look on his face. He was obviously doing wandless and wordless magic to torture the man."

Harry nodded in agreement. "When I let go like that, I don't need a wand at all, things just do what my uninvited side wants. Don't worry Poppy, you shouldn't feel the need to apologize to me for speaking the truth."

"As I was on the floor at the time, I was unable to observe his facial features, however I have no doubt that he was smiling as he did that, he smiled the last two times as well." Severus interjected.

"You both keep referring to two separate events, but I've only heard one. My curiosity is up, what was the second?" Headmistress McGoangall inquired.

Harry lowered his head a moment, as if embarrassed. "The second time we were in town at a diner near the Manor... A muggle tourist started yelling at us when we kissed, saying that it was a sin, disgusting, freakish, and other things I choose not to repeat. He... He went too far..."

When asked what the man had done that caused Harry to snap, the young man sighed and continued the tale. "He told Severus that he was a cradle robber, and should be put to death for corrupting someone as young and innocent as I appeared to be. I tried to tell the man that I was in no way innocent in the ways of the world, and he just shook his head then told me I was young, I wouldn't understand, that this was all a phase, and I would soon settle down with a nice young lady who wouldn't abuse me. Then he started throwing accusations at Sev, and I got up and started yelling back at him... Severus says that's when my eyes started changing.

I told the man that I was in no way naive, that I had been through more than many people go through in a lifetime, but he just kept on pushing and insisting that I was innocent and a child. He never seemed to notice my eyes. I yelled, asking him if a murderer would be considered innocent, then he yelled back that a murderer wouldn't have a shred of purity left in them. I grabbed his shirt collar, pulled him nose to nose, stared into his eyes, and told him, 'Guess that means I'm not as pure as you think I am then, huh?'. The next thing I knew, he was up in the air, writhing around, people were screaming and running, trying to get out but the doors had locked, and the tables started catching on fire... I was told I had a smile on my face then as well."

Snape wrapped an arm around the young man and pulled him close. "It was all resolved though, only a matter of an hour or so."

"You had to obliviate 30 people, douse the fires, heal the bastard, and pull me out of it." Harry countered, leaning into the touch appearing to be quite defeated. "You wound up with burn marks all over your body because of me." He added in a low voice.

"Yes, well, at least the doors were locked. Had they run out into the street and caused a more public scene, it would have been so much worse." He ran a hand through his lover's hair.

"I'm scared Sev... I haven't been this scared since you almost died at the final battle. I let loose in the school. I would have hurt that boy - badly - had you not stopped me. Then I hurt you... I keep hurting you when this happens..." Harry drew in a deep breath. "I'm afraid one of these days, I'm going to lose it, and you'll try to calm me, then I'll wind up killing you."

"But you won't." Snape stated, fully sure of the accuracy in his prediction. "Every time you notice that my person has been harmed in some way, you always cease your actions and revert back to normal."

"What if I do wind up killing you though?" Harry asked, his eyes laced with uncertainty.

Severus appeared to think seriously for a moment. "Then I shall return to pester you incessantly in the form of a ghost."

Harry snorted and chuckled darkly. "I'm serious."

"As am I. Have you seen how annoying Myrtle can get? I'll surpass that by at least five times. You'll never get a moment's rest."

The young man smiled. "You always know what to say to make me feel better."

"That my dear, is because you are incredibly easy." Snape brought his lover's hand to his lips and brushed a kiss across the knuckles.

"Hey, why am I suddenly put in a feminine role?" Harry demanded. "It's not like I bottom all the time!"

Minerva squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face into her hands. Poppy simply choked on air. "I believe they had not wanted to become privy to that information." Severus said, smirking a bit. "Now hush, or I shall put you in a feminine _robe _as well."

"Right... Well." Minerva stated, changing the subject. "By tomorrow, your new chambers should be ready Mr. Potter."

Harry looked slightly bewildered. "Why aren't you requesting an evaluation, or firing me, or at the very least informing all of the students' parents?"

The woman smiled a bit. "Because Harry, I take care of my family. Besides, you said how quickly Severus came to your side when you blew your top, and he did calm you down by diverting your attention to himself. Neither Albus nor I felt it necessary to do any of those things when we had a werewolf teaching, and there's even a vampire still here after all. I am assured that you will not harm a student, but if it so happens you do, things will be dealt with accordingly."

"There's a vampire teaching here?" Harry asked, his eyes wide.

"No, they don't teach. But we also have a centaur, veela, half giant, and a quarter goblin who all do teach." The woman replied.

"Okay, okay, Firenze is obvious as the centaur, Hagrid's the half giant, and I know Flitwick is the quarter goblin. I assume Sinistra is the veela, but all of them have proven that they are, without a doubt, totally trustworthy. So had Remus actually when he taught. How does any of that even apply to me?"

"You have proven that you're trustworthy in your own way, just as they have."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "So who's the vampire?"

"You get three guesses, and the first two don't count." Minerva replied, her eyes eerily reminiscent of the twinkling blue ones that Dumbledore used to have.

"Well, if you go by rumor, then it's Snape, but I know he's not. If you go by instinct, then it's Vector... But if the first two don't count... I have no idea." Harry was tired from the day, and sitting in one place so long had allowed his body to relax, causing him to feel overly sleepy.

"Who do you know that hears everything you're doing when you're within 100 feet of them? Who seems to always know exactly who you are without looking up or even acknowledging your entrance? Who keeps to themselves so much that very little is known about them?" McGonagall asked.

"Easy, Madame Pince... No! It can't be." Harry gaped. Minerva simply smiled and nodded a bit.

* * *

><p>Mr. Johansen walked into the room he was supposed to meet Professor Potter in for his first detention the following Thursday. When he arrived, he noticed that no one seemed to be there. Glancing around a bit, he decided to just relax, so he sat at a desk and propped his feet up.<p>

Within shadows at the front of the room, Professor Potter watched. The boy was twirling his wand around and humming, as if he didn't have a care in the world. "You know." Harry said, stepping from the darkness and revealing himself. "When you arrive to a detention, and the overseeing Professor doesn't appear to be present, you are supposed to look for instructions, which are quite plainly written on the board."

The brat simply smirked, and sent out a loud crack with his wand. Four other students burst into the room, all of them Gryffindors. Two were 7th years, one a 6th year, and the last a 5th year. They all made various noises of disdain, and looked to be getting ready for a fight. Harry rose an eyebrow, outstretched his arm, and all five of their wands flew to him. "So nice of you to join your friend for his detention. Instructions are on the board, get to it." He locked the room's doors so they couldn't run off, then sat calmly at his own desk and began grading papers from the day's pop quiz.

"Why you bastard!" One of them, a 7th year, yelled while running up to attempt beating the man. When he got within a foot from Harry, the young savior simply waved his hand and the boy was thrown back, landing on his backside in the middle of an aisle.

Professor Potter glanced up, looking rather bored. "Mr. Koduct, perhaps in the future if you wish to voice your displeasure at your situation, you will use a more acceptable form of communication rather than violence. Five points from Gryffindor for attempted assault on a teacher."

The other 7th year and the 6th year followed suit, which resulted in similar outcomes, both of them landing in the middle of the floor. "Mr. Johansen, I'm afraid that if you don't call your lackeys off, we will have no chance at winning the House Cup this year. It wouldn't look very good on you lot if the rest of the house knew just who allowed their hard earned points to slip away." Harry said before returning his eyes to the papers. "Each minute you waste, you add another detention to your queue. You're up to 6 additional ones, care to go for double digits?"

The boys grumbled but did get to work cleaning the room. Finally, when they were done and Potter gave his seal of approval and handed their wands back. They left, he sat down at his desk, leaned back, and covered his face, sighing. Snape stepped from another shadow riddled corner and smirked. "That was rather boring."

Splitting his fingers and peeking at the man, Harry replied, "Yes, well, that calming draught worked wonders. Plus, I knew you were here to intervene if they pushed me too far."

"Indeed." The dark wizard said, walking to Potter's office with said man. They chatted for a while about punishments and the like, when a knock came to the door.

"Yes? Enter." Harry called out. Snape took that moment to retreat into the shadows and watch.

The door opened and Mr. Parker came in. "Professor Potter, there's a problem in the Slytherin common room. I can't find Professor Snape, so I figured you'd be the next best to resolve it."

Harry stood and walked towards the young man, and Snape walked forward, nodding his head to indicate that the younger professor should continue. "What's the issue then?"

"A snake found its way in." Harry burst from the room and Parker quickly followed, explaining along the way. Snape was following closely, worried about his Slytherins. "I don't know if it's poisonous or not, but it's snapping at everyone. Me and a 4th year girl, Carlota, managed to get it in a shield so it couldn't hurt anyone unless they actually went in the shield with it."

Swiftly making his way into the Slytherin common room, he saw the small black snake who was quite confused and angry. He walked towards it and went into the shield with it, holding out his hand. **I am here to keep you sssafe. **He told it.

The snake flicked its tongue out and sniffed the man. **A ssspeaker! Tell me, why did thossse younglingsss put me in here? **She asked, slithering up onto his hand and arm.

**To ssscare thessse children. Are the onesss resssponsssible here? **He asked, stroking the animal's head.

She shook her head negatively. **They wore red.**

**Have you bitten anybody? **He asked, a bit worried.

**Yesss. The youngling who captured me.**

**Are you poisssionousss? **He asked, silently noting the specks of white on the top of her head and the tip of her tail.

**No, my teeth hold no venom. It only ssserved to ssscare him.**

Harry continued to stroke the snake, and spoke in English. "She's not poisonous, but she did bite whoever captured her to bring her in. She said they wore red, so I assume it was one of my Gryffindors. Probably one of the lot that just got out of detention."

**Tell thessse green younglingsss I am sssorry for ssscaring them. **The snake ordered.

Harry nodded then turned to Severus, who was watching wide-eyed, just as all the rest present were. "She also says she's sorry for scaring your Slytherins." **Do you have a name? My name isss Harry.**

**Kieran.**

Harry smiled. **It sssuitsss you. It meansss, 'little dark one' in my native language. Would you like to live with me?**

**Yesss... May I keep you company?**

**Of courssse. You may ride around on me any time you like. **The snake curled around his arm and rested it's head on his shoulder, flicking it's tongue to sniff the man. "I seem to have gained a familiar." He stated, stepping from the shield.

"May... May I pet her?" Parker asked tentatively.

**Thisss boy wantsss to touch you. Do you allow it?** Harry asked to the snake. She nodded her head affirmative, and leaned downward. "Go ahead then Alden, she won't bite."

The young boy reached out a hand tentatively and stroked the creature's head lightly. A smile crossed his lips. "She's very pretty."

"You're a Parselmouth!" A third year girl, who had just gotten over being stunned, shouted. "I thought those were just rumors."

Harry chuckled. "Yes, I am a Parselmouth. It's nothing to get all worked up over though, it just means I am fluent in another language. Like some of you, who speak German, French, and Italian." He smiled at the snake. **The boy sssaysss you're very pretty. **

Kieran bumped her head against the child's hand and flicked out her tongue, tickling his palm. Harry's smile faltered and he sighed. "Well, I need to go to the infirmary again to see who captured her. No doubt if they were bit they went there."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"_Frank Johansen, explain yourself at once!" Harry demanded upon seeing the boy lying in one of the infirmary's beds._

"_I don't know what you're talking about." The boy replied, scooting under his covers._

"_I want to know why you thought it necessary to kidnap a snake, irritate it, and throw it into the Slytherin common room." Harry put his hands on his hips, the area where the snake was resting on his arm appearing as a bulge under his robe._

"_You can't prove I did anything of the sort." The brat stated, full of himself._

"_You forget Mr. Johansen, I am a Parselmouth." He shifted his robe to reveal Kieran, who just glared at the boy._

_**Thatsss the one who captured me. I bit hisss wand arm near the bendy part.**_

"_She informs me that you are the one who kidnapped her."_

"_Oh yeah, how are you gonna prove it?" The boy smirked._

"_Because you have a bite on your right arm at your elbow that I would not have known about had she not told me." Harry replied._

_Snape, who'd made sure to be quiet so he wasn't noticed until now took his turn. "Mr. Johansen, I assume you know what Veritaserum does?"_

_The boy's eyes widened and the two professors smirked. "You can't do that, that's against the law! See, you can't prove I did anything."_

"_He is right you know." Severus said. _

"_Yes, but not for much longer hopefully." Harry replied._

"_Ahhh, I see you have been working on that bill about the uses of Veritaserum within Hogwarts for the Ministry to look over."_

"_Oh yes, I have a meeting set up Saturday for the review of it. You're invited to come along as well."_

"_How gracious to extend that offer. I have nothing to do that day, I shall accompany you."_

"_That's bullshit! You can't make us take that crap. It's an invasion of privacy." Frank yelled out._

"_So is tossing a confused serpent into a room with a group of children." Harry replied._

"_It's not like it hurt anyone besides me. If anything, I should press charges. For all I know the damn thing could be poisonous, and you're running around the school with it hanging off your arm! Lets see how far you get with that bill when you've got a case against you." The brat harrumphed._

"_Had she been poisonous, I would not have her hanging off of me, as you put it. She would be in a tank in my rooms. You have no right to press charges, and as you've just admitted to being the one who captured her, every single Slytherin that was present in the common room at the time has the right to press charges against you."_

"_We don't want to press charges against him." Alden Parker said from the doorway, walking in. "We talked it over, and we're tired of him and his gang bullying us. We want him expelled."_

"_That seems beyond fair." Harry stated._

"_You can't do that! If you expel me, I'll beat the shit out of you again!" Johansen yelled. "You and your pet Slytherin."_

"_I believe that is all we need to make our case." Severus stated._

"_Quite." Harry replied, turning with the man and walking from the room._

"_Can one of you explain to me what just happened?" Parker asked, following them._

The scene faded and Kingsley Shacklebolt lifted his head from a pensive. "Lord Potter, after reviewing that memory, I believe your new bill should be activated. From here on, the use of Veritaserum on students in year five and above who attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry shall be permitted in cases where it is believed another beings life may be in danger."

Harry smiled, stood, and shook his hand. "Thank you Minister Shacklebolt."

"Tell me, did that boy get expelled?" The man asked, his curiosity up.

"Yes he did. Yesterday, by Headmistress McGonagall." Severus stated.

* * *

><p>Harry and Severus were spending that evening in the latter's chambers. They had discussed wolfsbane theory, the werewolves that Snape had been interviewing, and even had a healthy debate on the uses of human parts in potions.<p>

"I still say that taking someone's entire fingernail just for a potion is barbaric." Harry said, slightly bored with the conversation.

A knocking at the door drew their attention. "Have you invited anyone over?" Severus asked.

"Without your consent? Do you think I have a death wish?" Harry retorted.

The dark wizard grabbed his wand from the table next to his seat and made his way to the door. Upon opening it, he pointed the wand at the cloaked individual. "Who are you and what do you want?" He demanded.

"Uncle Severus, it's me!" Draco hissed lowly. "Let me in!"

"Prove it." The man said, his hand never lowering.

Draco gave a look of irritation, though it had no effect as it couldn't be seen beyond the top of his hood. "Your father was a muggle named Tobias Snape, and your mother was a disowned pure-blood named Eileen Prince."

"That is printed within the records at the Ministry, anyone could get ahold of that information." Severus stated, his wand still pointed at the young man's head.

"Uncle Severus, if you don't let me in, I'll throw a raging party at your manor and invite the Weasley twins saying you want to test all of their latest pranks!"

Snape made a grunt of disapproval, but moved aside to let the twerp in. "Why are you here?" He demanded, closing the door, then lead the young man to the living portion of his chambers where Harry sat.

Instead of answering, Draco removed his cloak to reveal his face and hair. He had a very bad bruise on his right eye, and his left eye was sealed shut, red and swollen. Dried blood was apparent on his chin, and bruises in the shape of hands were on his throat. His hair was disheveled, to a point that it closely resembled Harry's on a bad day.

"Draco, what in blazes happened to you?" The younger professor asked, quickly shuffling to gather a multitude of potions and salves that would heal the young man.

"That's exactly what happened to me." Draco stated, more aggravated than angry. "Blaise Zabini."

"What did that abominable excuse for a human being do this time?" Snape asked, shaking his head in irritation.

"He saw me and Dudley leaving the Three Broomsticks tonight with Hermione. Called her a mudblood and asked why I was lowering myself to be seen in public with her. Dudley didn't understand what was going on, and he told him that Hermione was an upstanding woman, and Blaise should keep his mouth shut. One thing led to another, and I had to step in to keep Blaise from hexing him. After Hermione took his wand away, he was left with fists, and he knows how to use them." Draco explained.

"Where's Dudley?" Harry asked, coating his fingers with some salve.

"Hermione took hi- hey watch it, that's cold! She took him to the burrow. Lucky bastard hasn't got a mark on him."

The young savior chuckled a bit, and cast a quick warming spell on the goop spread on his hand. "Well, he was bound to get into trouble at some point. Thank you for sparing him this Draco, it means a lot to me."

"Well, I've got Blaise's body back at the Manor." Draco informed them. "What should I do with him?"

"Did you kill him?" Harry asked, not sounding at all sad, annoyed, or anything of the sort. Just curiosity seemed to be present in his voice.

"No, just knocked him out. He's in the basement where we kept Lucius." The blond said, wincing a bit as Harry's hand made its way to his bruised eye.

"Sorry, I know that hurt. Here, this is going to hurt worse, hold your head back." Harry ordered, and the blond did so. "What are we going to do with him?" He asked, pouring a bit of some potion in the other young man's swollen eye, which caused a yelp to exit his lips.

"He assaulted my godson on your cousin's behalf. I say, since he is no longer a student, we press charges. Or hex him. I don't really care either way." Severus muttered. "He would make an interesting target for Dudley. Isn't Miss Granger just teaching him about dueling?"

Harry smiled a bit, and lifted the blond's head forward. "Yes, he said he wanted to have a practice run with me next weekend."

"I tried to get him to reconsider that. He has no idea how good of a duelist you are." Draco stated.

"I wrote him back and told him I would duel someone else and let him watch, as I wasn't sure I wouldn't hurt him." Harry informed. "You got any more wounds?" He asked, wiping off his hands into a damp cloth.

"No, he just stuck to my face since he knew it was my most prized asset."

"I'll do it." Snape said.

"Do what?" Harry and Draco asked in unison.

"Next weekend, I'll have a duel with you."

"Well, you are a very powerful wizard. Alright, I'll write him and inform him." Harry stated. "Let's pop by the manor tonight and give Blaise a welcoming party." He smirked. His brain was yelling at him that the proper thing to do would be to press charges against him at the Ministry, but it was overshadowed by the uninvited part of himself that longed to see the bastard writhing on the ground in front of him, covered in blood and possibly missing a few limbs.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Harry was in the basement of the manor sitting at a small table with a dim light hanging overhead. He'd got the idea for the scenario from several muggle films in which interrogation scenes seemed to progress in a much swifter manner if they had this type of ambiance. The young man had his fingers interlaced around each other, and one leg was haphazardly tossed across the other, making him appear to be very bored with the goings on.

Blaise Zabini was sitting across from him, bound to a chair thanks to both muggle and magical ropes. He'd learned to stop struggling when the ropes cut into his arms and caused blood to start dripping to the floor.

Severus was in a corner, leaning against a wall, his hand cupping his chin and appeared to be deep in thought. His legs were crossed at the ankles allowing him comfortable movement should need to suddenly swoop in and intervene.

Draco was the only one in the room who had made much noise. He was pacing in a line, the click of his heels softly echoing throughout, and the rustle of his clothing causing a much needed break for everyone's ears from the dead silence.

Finally, after several tense minutes of staring between one another, Harry spoke to Blaise. "Why did you attack my family?" He asked in a tone that said the young man had better tell the truth.

Draco stopped his movements for a brief two seconds before decided he would ask Harry about calling him family later. "I never attacked your family, I attacked that blond poofta."

Harry nodded his head slightly. "What you seem to fail to understand, my good man, is that blond poofta you attacked is indeed considered my family." He moved his right hand, spread his fingers, then clenched them into a fist, causing the ropes around the male in front of him to tighten and cut deeper. "Now, I shall ask again. Why did you attack my family?"

"He's a disgrace to the Malfoy name, and by default to all of the purebloods in our world. He sullies it when he chooses to mingle in the company of a mudblood." Blaise replied, a snarl present upon his lips.

"**Lucius Farven** was a disgrace to my name. He was the one who sullied what my ancestors worked hard to achieve." Draco spat angrily.

Harry raised a hand to silence the oncoming argument that threatened to break from Blaise's mouth. "Who he chooses to associate with is of no concern to anyone besides himself. I seem to remember a time in school when you had no qualms about blood purity. Give me the real reason you attacked him, or I shall request my partner to do what he does best." The young savior stated calmly, motioning to Severus, who had just taken a vial from his trouser pocket.

In response, Blaise simply spat on the table in front of him. Harry sighed, shook his head a bit, and feigned sadness as he stood up and motioned Snape to take over. He went to the previously occupied corner, which was still warm from the older wizard's body heat, and leaned to watch the proceedings.

The man walked towards Blaise in an unsettling slow manner, tilted the young man's head back, and dosed him with three drops of veritaserum. When the bound male's eyes glazed over, he asked, "Why did you attack Draco?"

"Because he was always so incredibly stupid to not notice when someone was coming on to him." Blaise replied in a most disturbing emotionless voice.

"Can you be more specific?" Draco asked, not entirely sure he wanted the answer.

"Yes I can." Blaise replied, not elaborating any more than that.

"Draco, you must also be more specific in your questions if you wish to gather any information out of him." Severus informed the young man. "What exactly did he not notice?"

"The many times throughout the years when I tried to get his attention by means of flirtation."

"You like me?" Draco asked, slightly dumbfounded.

"Yes."

"If you like me, why did you attack me?" The blond demanded.

"Because it was painfully obvious you never shared my interest and were in love with someone else. If I couldn't have you, no one could."

"I believe that's all of the information we need." Harry stated, stepping from the corner. "What should we do with him?" He asked, allowing the unsaid, _Can I kill him?_, to hang in the air.

"I move that he be obliviated of all his memories of this event and his feelings for Mr. Malfoy be removed." Severus stated.

"I second that. That's just creepy." Draco said

"Damn." Harry said. "Alright, have at it then, and get him out of this house. I'm heading back to Hogwarts." He disappeared with the crack of apparation.

* * *

><p>Snape walked into his chambers around three hours later, glancing around wondering where Potter was. After an extensive search, he realized the young man hadn't went to his rooms, so he quickly used the floo to check Harry's own rooms. They yielded the same results.<p>

Furrowing his brow, Severus went to check the Great Hall, Gryffindor Tower, the Slytherin Dungeons, the infirmary, and lastly, the headmistress' office, still not able to find him. Minerva walked into her office, and noticed the dark wizard standing over her desk. "What can I do for you Severus?"

"Hmm? Oh, I seem to be unable to locate Potter." He mumbled.

"He just took out a request for the next four days off, though it hardly makes sense he would be absent for the first half of the week. I would have thought he'd have told you." She stated, sitting in the chair located behind the desk.

"Did he say anything about where he was going, or why?" The man asked.

"Now really Severus, I don't tell the other professors what you do when you request time off." She chided.

"I don't request time off, so you wouldn't have the chance. The other professors are not my partners, Potter is. I demand to know where he's went off to." Snape demanded.

"I'm afraid I don't know where, he didn't divulge that information... However, if he wanted you to know, he would have told you. Sometimes it's good to respect peoples' privacy." She said in a lecturing tone.

"Oh you're one to talk, being angry with the both of us for not informing you of our situation. Privacy indeed." He sneered.

The woman harrumphed and Snape stalked from the room. _Why would he just up and leave like that? Especially since he did not let loose and kill that Zabini. It's not as if he enjoys- _"Fuck." Severus stated when he realized why Harry ran off.

"Professor Snape!" A young second year Hufflepuff girl gasped when she heard the man. "You cursed!"

"Wrong Miss Triskey. A curse is the strongest type of offensive spell to cause harm to, control, or kill the victim." He admonished. "What you heard me doing was swearing."

"Are you even allowed to do that?" She asked.

Severus narrowed his eyes. "Five points from Hufflepuff and a foot of parchment telling information about curses on my desk by Monday." He ordered before billowing off to his rooms.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in a great field in Britain, Harry was summoning, attacking, demolishing, incinerating, and summoning again several wooden targets. Anger at himself had been causing him inner turmoil, so he decided to work it off this way.<p>

"Young wizarding warrior, do you know where you are?" A voice asked.

Harry spun around, his wand pointed directly to the source of the sound. Taking note of the large amber eyes which stared into his own, and the visible scars adorning the neck and face of the man before him, the young wizard lowered his wand. "I apologize sir, I was not aware I was trespassing on your clan's territory." He gave a quick, but polite, bow and continued. "I assume I am still in Britain, but to be quite honest, I haven't a clue specifically where."

The werewolf raised an eyebrow in slight confusion. "No wizards have ever spoken to any of my clan as you just have. They've all been too frightened to say anything, or too idiotic to realize we meant no harm. You were... Polite... Why?"

"A dear friend of mine was a werewolf, sadly though he passed a while back. He taught me that no matter what creature I came in contact with, they were still a sentient being and deserved to be treated as such."

"Your friend sounds very wise. What are you doing here?" The man asked, not nearly as demanding as he had assumed he would have to be a few minutes ago.

"Escaping from myself." Harry said, sighing.

"What have you done?"

"It's more along the lines of what I haven't done, and what I wanted to do." The young man explained. "I was forced to kill a powerful evil wizard not too long ago, and when I finished my task, I somehow managed to siphon his magic, which combined with my own. Long story short, I found myself wanting to kill again, several times. The feeling went so deep that I even hoped to kill a man, no older than myself, for attacking someone I consider to be my brother."

"Most in your situation would simply hole themselves up in their homes. Why have you chosen to vent your anger here?"

"My home is the one place I fear returning to. My partner, cousin, and the man I consider my brother all live there, and I fear I will lose control of myself and hurt one of them." He replied, lowering his head almost ashamedly.

"Admitting your fear is not weakness, so stop acting like it is." The werewolf stated, and Harry rose his head. "Why do you tell me all of this so willingly?"

"You've not thrown me from your territory and it would be disrespectful if I were to lie to you or omit something you request of me because of that." The young man offered. "I have no wish to make enemies, I have enough of those as it is."

"You are very intriguing." The man said. "You follow our etiquette, yet you are not one of us. Your friend has taught you much. What are you called?"

"My given name is Harry Potter, but I am beginning to hate it." He answered honestly.

"Then I shall call you Kione." The werewolf replied.

Harry's extensive knowledge of names and their meanings caused him to chuckle. At the other man's imploring look, he said, "It fits. Considering I apparated here, it could be taken as if I came from nowhere, as the name suggests."

The two talked for several hours after that, sharing information on themselves, their lives, and their families. Harry found the werewolf to be incredibly easy to speak with, and learned his name was Macoval of the Liridon clan. In turn, he also revealed that it was nice to be able to tell someone about himself, as where he came from, he was famous and everyone simply assumed they knew all about him thanks to the rumors printed in their local tabloids.

The werewolf was surprised to see someone who held such disdain for their personal fame, but at the same time was glad that the young man didn't allow it to inflate his ego. He found that the wizarding warrior had a healthy sense of fear, particularly for those he loved, but not for himself, which worried the man.

"Should you choose to accept, we shall train you in our ways." The werewolf stated when the sun was beginning to rise. They'd spent the better part of the night deep in conversation. "It will require time, at the very minimum a year."

"I can not accept your offer at this moment. I am a teacher at a wizarding school, and my first obligation is to the students, I will not abandon them for my own selfish wants." He stopped and realized that was exactly what he did when he asked for personal leave for four days. "I must return to them now actually."

"The offer will remain open." The man replied.

Harry smiled a bit, and shook the werewolf's hand. "Then I shall see you the third week of June. I must thank you, without talking with you I wouldn't have realized that I had fully intended to selfishly abandon my students until Wednesday. I need to get back and rectify that."

"You're quite welcome Kione." The man replied. "Go, and remember what I said, they are your family, and deserve to try to help you."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

When Harry walked into the Headmistress' office that morning, after a night staying up and discovering things with a werewolf, he looked every bit as tired as he should be, even though he still had a smile on his face. Luckily, breakfast was in a few minutes, so he hadn't missed anything that day.

"I want to retract my request for time off until Wednesday." He stated calmly, even a tiny bit happily.

"Oh? What brought this change of heart?" Minerva asked quite curiously.

Harry just kept smiling. "I've got business to attend to next year, so I wont be teaching then. I need to spend as much time with my students as I can throughout this year in hopes that they actually learn something in DADA for a change."

The woman chuckled. "Yes, many of our past professors have been a bit incompetent. Alright then, I suppose your leave is up. I'll inform the substitute."

Harry nodded his thanks, and made his way to the Great Hall for some food. Sitting at his spot near Severus, he filled his plate and enjoyed the wonderful sensations that engulfed his taste-buds. Snape raised an eyebrow, "I suppose whatever it was you left for last night has ended?" He asked, trying to appear not to be interested in the least.

"No, not ended. Simply resulted in a better possibility, and a chance at something I wouldn't have had otherwise." Professor Potter replied. They sat together in a long silence, simply eating the food in front of him. Eventually, the silence became too much.

"Well, you certainly gave Draco a scare when I informed him you had went missing." Severus said before popping the a bit of his sausage into his mouth.

Harry wiped at the corners of his mouth with a napkin, his features never changing from their sated pleasant state. He stood, then leaned down and kissed the potions professor on the cheek, and whispered, "I'm sorry I worried you two. I have much to tell you, so meet me tonight in my rooms at 8." Then walked from the hall to prepare for his classes.

The students that had seen the interaction stared on at Severus, half expecting him to blow his top, scream, curse Professor Potter, or worse. What they didn't expect was for him to nod to the man and finish eating his meal in relative silence, aside from the infrequent comments towards his colleagues.

Harry's students that day were thrilled when the lesson plan went over the practical uses of the spells they'd been studying for the last week. He'd even managed to wrangle John Dawlish, who was an auror on loan from the ministry to teach apparation to their seventh years, into agreeing to duel him for the pleasure of his last class of that day. The students consisted of second year Slytherins and Ravenclaws, so Alden Parker was there, and was overly excited to get to watch the professor who'd been kind to him in action.

They fought with many charms, simple jinxes, and even spells used most commonly in pranks. Harry had been holding back considerably, partially due to not wanting to actually hurt the man, and partially to the fact they had agreed that nothing too dangerous would be performed, as their viewers were indeed so young. The winning move was cast by Professor Potter, who had transfigured his shoe into a miniature trampoline, which Mr. Dawlish ran on to in an attempt at dodging a jelly legs jinx. The bouncing action caused him to lose balance, and fall to his bum on the floor beneath him, effectively tossing his wand to the other side of the room and thus ending their performance.

When the two had finished their duel, Harry was left sweating a bit, and Dawlish was recuperating in the Professor's chair. "Alright, I want One and a half feet of parchment on the uses of transfiguration during a duel, due next week. Class dismissed."

After most of the students had all filed out, except Mr. Parker who had stayed behind to ask some questions, Harry checked on the other man. Making his way to the desk, he shook his head lightly at the sight. "Are you quite alright?"

John looked up at him and grinned. "Oh yes, fine. Physically I'm wonderful, but my ego's taken quite a bruising thanks to being bested by an 18 year old. Then again, you did kill Voldemort so it's really not bruised that badly."

Harry let out soft laughter. "Well, I'm glad you see it that way." He said as he cast a quick cleaning charm to keep the sweat they'd both worked up from staining their clothes. Mr. Dawlish walked from the room, and Harry turned his attention to the young Slytherin boy. "What can I do for you Mr. Parker?"

"Well, I was wondering if I could speak to you about possibly talking with Headmistress McGonagall about changing one of the rules." He said.

"Oh?" Harry looked intrigued. "What rule would that be?"

"The one about familiars. We're only allowed to bring a toad, owl, or cat as a familiar, but lots of us don't have any of those."

Harry smiled a bit. "Not entirely true Mr. Parker, in fact I remember a very good friend of mine who used to have a pet rat. Well, before he found out the rat was actually the animagus to a murderer who was hiding out. But that's beside the point, he had a rat here legally, and his sister had a pygmy-puff. I seem to also remember someone running around with a dog. All you have to do is get the animal approved by the headmistress, which shouldn't prove too hard, and you can have nearly anything as a familiar here, as long as you can control it. The toad, owl, or cat thing sent on your acceptance letters is just there because those are the most commonly used ones."

"Ohhhhh. I see, thanks Professor Potter!" Alden said, going off to find his friends.

Harry smiled and started the task of grading two of his classes' homework they'd been assigned over the weekend. After he'd finished that and ate dinner, he made his way to his rooms to relax a bit before Severus came in. It was 6:20 before he decided to pass the time by reading.

He was nearly startled when Snape walked in, he'd gotten so wrapped up in his book that he'd not noticed the time. He put his reading material away, and offered tea to the man, who accepted. "Well, now that you're here, I suppose I should fill you on what happened."

"That would be appreciated." The dark wizard said with no hint of subtlety.

"Right... Well, last night I really wanted to hurt Blaise... I mean, I wanted to kill him, and I looked forward to experiencing it. I wanted the rush of his blood running everywhere, his body being mangled beyond the ability for identification, and all because he attacked Draco. I mean, I feel like Dray's my brother, like I should have the right to hurt anyone who hurts him. I got angry at myself for wanting to do all that, for having a blood-lust to begin with." Harry explained.

"That still doesn't explain where you went. You could have been attacked and none of us would have known where you were to come to your aide." Severus stated, agitation foremost in his voice to hide his worry.

"Yes, I could have, and had I said the wrong thing, I probably would have." He explained about the werewolf he met, how he hadn't known where he was and consequently wasn't aware he was trespassing on the Liridon clan's property. He told Severus about sitting there in an open field with the man, both of them learning about each other, and the meditation techniques he'd learned from the man. "And then, he offered to have his clan train me in their ways. We set it up so I would go there when school lets out, and I could train with them for about a year, if not more after that."

Snape was angry. "You chose to simply set something like that up without speaking to me first? You're just going to go along as if everything's normal, then disappear for a year or more, straight out of everyone's lives? Straight out of MY life? Did you even stop to consider the outcome of your actions? What about your students? They need a competent DADA professor!"

Harry was taken back a bit. "No, it's not like that... Macoval wants to meet you, and Draco and Dudley. My students are the reason I came back before Wednesday, so I wouldn't be abandoning them."

"I see Potter. Your return had absolutely nothing to do with the worry you may or may not have caused to me or your family, with the fright I - we - experienced on your behalf."

"Sev, what's wrong with you? I thought you would be happy, I had a chance to make something better of myself and I took it."

"Do you not comprehend the fear I experienced with the possibility of you getting yourself into trouble because you wanted desperately to kill someone? Don't even try to deny it because I know it's true. You've obviously no idea how worried I got when I realized that you could wind up killing someone, and I couldn't be there to stop you, or to keep the Ministry from locking you up, or worse, give you the kiss for murdering someone! Did you ever consider the possibility of how wrecked my life would be if the man I love went off and got himself killed because he chose to deal with his anger and blood-lust on his own, rather than allowing me to help calm it down as I have been doing?"

His questions and accusations met silence for a few seconds, then Harry asked, "But you always get hurt when I- Wait... The man you... love?"

Severus paled a bit, then stammered out, "You di- But, I m- That is not the subject at hand, quit veering off-topic!" before a slight tinge appeared in his cheeks.

Harry reached up to the man who had moved to be towering above his seat, and pulled him down onto the couch so he would be lying under the dark wizard. He captured his lover's lips in a soft yet firm kiss, wrapping his arms around the neck in front of him, and his right leg around the left leg of the other man. He felt himself becoming excited as his hardness grew and in turn brushed against the mirroring hardness of the potions professor. Severus broke the kiss to stare into the younger man's eyes. "I'm still angry with you."

Harry smiled, and said, "I know." Staring back into the coal black eyes of the older man, he gathered his courage. "I love you Severus." He was quite worried about saying it aloud, though he'd been feeling it for maybe two weeks now. What Snape had done was a slip of the tongue that may or may not have been accurate, and possibly said only in anger, so he wasn't sure the reaction he'd get from actually saying it himself.

This admission, the first time he'd heard those words directed at him by Harry, caused the older man to return to the kiss in a much more heated manner than before. Between two kisses, he gave an admission of his own. "I love you too you impertinent brat."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

After their activities, Harry had passed out quite quickly after his personal release. Severus stayed with his arm wrapped around the young man on the couch, which had been transfigured into a small bed, for a few hours. He quite enjoyed sleeping with the young professor - sleeping as in actually falling asleep - but knew he needed to get back to his dungeons before breakfast.

When he woke up for the third time that night, after dozing off again, he shifted and moved to write a note and leave for the rest of the evening. Upon finishing the note, he took a quick peek at the peacefully sleeping man who had stolen his heart. With a faint smile, he left for his own bed, and a well deserved rest.

As Harry woke the next morning, he noticed something was off... He wasn't in his own bed, and he wasn't in Severus' bed, as the mattress felt lumpier than normal. Opening one eye, he glanced around and realized he was in the living portion of his chambers. The flood of memories from the night and day before hit him like a freight train, which caused a groan to escape his lips. _Great, Sev's more than likely angry with me, and left in the middle of the night as some sort of gesture._

He took a quick shower that morning, only taking the necessary time to wash and get out, then dressed in his plainest robes, which mind you made him almost look like a student again, save for the green and gold lining. Thanks to Draco, there wasn't a single article of clothing he owned that didn't have either silver or gold on it.

He made his way to the kitchenette to fix some coffee, something that Snape had accustomed him to - there was no way Harry would admit he was addicted to it - and noticed a parchment lying on the counter near the coffee maker. Picking it up, he rubbed a bit at his eyes and began to read.

_**Harry,**_

_**I needed to return to the dungeons in case any of my Slytherins came to me for help in the middle of the night, as some tend to do. We still need to have a serious discussion about your abrupt determination to live amongst the werewolves for nigh a year. Clear your schedule for Friday evening, I shall do so with mine as well. **_

_**I tried to charm this muggle machine of yours to give you coffee when you woke up, but it wouldn't work. I think it's broken.**_

_**Yours,**_

_**Severus**_

Harry checked over the coffee machine, and after he pressed the on button, realized it wasn't broken. He made a soft chuckle at the thought that one of the most brilliant wizards of his time, who had even been raised around muggles, had been out of that world for so long that newer technology made no sense to him.

Before leaving for the Great Hall, he made a quick stop by Headmistress McGonagall's office to clear his schedule for Severus. As he made his way to breakfast, he wondered how he was going to break the news to Draco and Dudley, and even if his relationship with Severus would survive a year apart. _Perhaps, _he thought, _Macoval will approve sending owls back and forth between us. I wonder if he'll want to meet Teddy._

He realized he would need to set up a meeting beforehand with the werewolf to sort out any last minute details, and wrote that into his planner for his Christmas Break task. _I'll also need to tell him that I need to be back during the last week of August to help Sev with his side-practice. _He started making a list of things to bring up on his Christmas visit.

He had been so wrapped up in his musings that he didn't notice several pairs of eyes on him. It wasn't often the students saw a professor writing at the breakfast table. When he glanced up, he saw Severus had entered the room, and was sitting beside him. He gave the dark wizard a small smile, and handed him the paper as an explanation of what he was planning.

Snape read over it, and quickly realized that the young man had no intention of simply abandoning him, but would in fact be trying very hard to maintain a relationship through long distance. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about this though, as no one had ever tried to maintain a relationship with him after they'd moved, even if only temporarily. One of the thoughts that had crossed his mind the night before, was that Harry might have been tired of him, and was seeking an out. Now, he wasn't so sure of that, and even held on to a glimmer of hope that tiring wasn't the case.

When he handed the paper back to Professor Potter, and gave a curt nod, whispers started flying. "Maybe he got in trouble and Snape made him do an essay." One first year guessed.

"No way, they're going out. Professor Potter wouldn't let Snape get away with that." A third year offered.

"I bet he broke up with him and did it through note here so the old bat wouldn't make a scene."

"Nah, he looks too happy to have broken up with somebody, Potter wouldn't be that happy coming out of a relationship."

"No, look you guys, he just grabbed ahold of Snape's hand! There's no way they broke up."

"Maybe he asked Snape to Marry him."

"How romantic."

"How creepy."

"Maybe he gave him the location for a secret rendezvous point and they're going to meet later tonight."

"Maybe they're faking the whole relationship thing to throw us off from some evil plot they're making."

"Snape I can see being evil, but what about Potter? He's nothing but light."

"Haven't you heard? He freaked out in the hospital wing when Johansen was last here, and wound up cursing Snape." A female voice whispered.

"I heard he tortured him with the cruciatus."

"I heard it was the entrail-expelling curse."

"There's no way he would do something like that!"

"Why would he torture his own boyfriend?"

"I bet that note was an apology for torturing him in the infirmary."

Those last few whispers had been made my Slytherins, and Alden was looking quite angry. He'd known that something had happened when Madame Pomfrey drug him out of the infirmary, something to elicit a scream of pure agony from one of them, but he had no idea what, and he was sure whatever it was, it wasn't on purpose.

"My cousin says he's going to be the new Dark Lord." A fifth year Slytherin girl whispered. She was the girl who had said that Harry tortured Snape.

Alden glared at the girl and hit his hand against the table. "He will not." The boy said in a dangerous, low whisper.

"How do you know?" She asked.

"Because, he killed Voldemort, why would he take his place?" He answered.

"Simple really. He wanted the power that Voldemort could have got, and with him out of the way, Potter could easily take it. He's already passing bills in the Ministry, my aunt works there and has read over two of them. One of them was even consent to use Veritaserum on students. I bet he's taking over from the inside out. He obviously has no qualms torturing Snape, so why would he have any any issue with taking over?"

"You take that back!" The boy demanded loudly, causing many eyes to stare towards him.

"No. Potter is evil, and Snape is just following under him like the coward he is. I bet he'll start recruiting for himself soon. Probably take on a few ex-Death Eaters." She replied snootily.

Alden gripped his wand that was in his pocket and stared on angrily at the girl while standing up. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Professor Potter is kind, and would never do something like that."

"I bet he's already recruited you, didn't you have Death Eaters in your family? They probably taught you all sorts of dark magic, and now Potter wants to use you to-" She was cut off by the boy's wand against her neck.

"Yes I did have those filthy murderers in my family, and yes they did teach me some dark magic." He said in a low whisper. "Now take what you said back, or I will show you just what I learned!" He demanded in a much louder voice.

He was jolted from his offensive pose by a hand landing on his shoulder. Glancing up, he saw the Professor in question. "Mr. Parker, come with me." He said.

"See, I told you he recruited that boy for his evil plot." The girl remarked snidely.

"Miss Hefson, come with me as well." He led the two out of the Great Hall and into the Dungeons where Severus was already waiting on him. The older man had slipped from the room while most eyes were on the two arguing people, and knew at least one of them would be coming to him, as he was their head of house.

Harry didn't even knock, simply strolled into Severus' office with the two in tow. "Would you care to explain what was going on? Either of you?"

"No Professor Potter." The girl answered. Alden was simply staring at her, his eyes narrowed in anger, so he didn't quite register that he was being talked to as well.

Snape cleared his throat a bit. "Parker." That got the boy's attention. "Why did you have your wand at this girl's throat?"

"She was saying awful things." He replied.

"What have we told you about your anger?" The dark wizard asked.

Alden clasped his hands behind his back. "That I shouldn't resort to the dark things I was taught by my uncle, because it makes me no better than the Death Eaters if I use their curses."

"Miss Hefson, would you care to repeat whatever it was that you said to Mr. Parker that caused him to be so angry?" Severus asked in a tone that suggested it was an order and not a request.

"No." She replied.

"Ahh, what about that comment about me recruiting him for some evil plot?" Harry asked. "I seem to recall you saying something along those lines as we were leaving."

"Is this true Miss Hefson?" Severus asked.

"How should I know what he believes to be true?" She asked, thinking she was being cunning and her house head would appreciate it.

He didn't. "I suggest you simply answer the question before I take points for your cheek."

Her eyes bulged a bit. She swallowed hard, and said, "I will answer you when Potter leaves the room."

"Professor Potter, and he may stay should he wish." Severus stated. "Oh, and five points from Slytherin for your uncooperative nature."

Harry shook his head. "I'll go, I want to have a little chat with Alden anyway. See you Professor Snape."

The man nodded, and Harry left the room with the young boy. He led him to his own office, where he sat the boy down. "Now, what was that all about?"

"She said things... That weren't true." Alden replied.

"Well, I am sure everyone lies at some point or another." Harry stated.

"Not like that, I think she believes them." He sighed when he realized that he couldn't explain without explaining. "She said you were evil and you killed Voldemort so you could take his place as Dark Lord. She - she called Professor Snape a coward."

Harry chuckled at this. "My how rumors do fly. Not to worry though, between you and me, I think Professor Snape would imprison me before he allowed me to become a Dark Lord. How in the world do those things get started?"

Alden thought a bit, sensing that the man wasn't mad about the accusations, so he went on. "She said that day in the infirmary, when I came by to apologize to that boy, that you tortured Professor Snape."

This caused an unexpected reaction. Harry tensed his body, and gripped on to the arm of his chair quite tightly. "I see... Where did she get this information?" He asked, in all seriousness.

The boy's eyes widened a bit. "I don't know." He said. "I never saw you doing anything but worrying about Professor Snape's safety."

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "We need to go see Professor Snape, right now." He said. "I think that rumor was spread as a parting gift from Johansen."

They made their way to Snape's office, where the man was sitting there, looking quite aggravated. "What did she tell you?" Harry asked upon entering, holding the door open for the young boy so he could slip in, then warded it shut and threw up a silencing charm.

"Some mess about her family and his family being rivals. I didn't believe a word of it." Severus said, transfiguring an empty potion vial into an additional chair so everyone could sit.

"I think she's the least of our worries." Harry stated. "It has come to my attention that the rumor mill is working overtime on misrepresentations."

"How so?" Snape asked, interlacing his fingers.

"It seems that a rumor is floating around that the last time Johansen was in the infirmary, I tortured you."

Nothing on Severus' face gave away his surprise. He simply stared at the young men before him. After about a minute of silence, he said, "I suppose Mr. Parker is present because you have a guilt complex and feel he deserves the truth."

"You know me well Sev." Harry stated. "Sometimes, a little too well."

"It's true then?" Alden asked. Before either of them had a chance to answer, he crossed his arms. "Professor Snape, I don't know what you did to Professor Potter to make him torture you, but you must have done something. He's not evil and he wouldn't do something like that for no reason."

Severus' eyebrows shot up, and Harry made an almost amused sound. He probably would have laughed had the situation not been so serious. "I guess I'll explain then." Harry said. "Alden, Professor Snape didn't do anything to me. He was helping me. See, I have this thing, well it started when I killed Voldemort. I siphoned his power, and sometimes when I get really angry that power kind of... Takes over me. Professor Snape is the only person who can draw me out of it, but unfortunately he gets hurt in the process."

"Voldemort's taking over you from beyond the grave?" The boy asked, wide-eyed and slightly fearful.

Harry shook his head. "No no, nothing like that. We're not too sure why this happens, but it does, and when it does happen I do things I am not in control of. Because Severus can draw me out of it, Headmistress McGonagall allows me to stay on and teach. Any time I go into one of those fits, this bracelet will connect to one like it that he wears -" Snape lifted his sleeve a bit and showed the boy the bracelet. "- and he will port-key to wherever I am so he can stop me if I lose it."

"So that's why he popped into the room that day. Because you were gonna go into one of those fits and possibly hurt Johansen. I wondered why that happened." The boy said.

"You're not scared?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Oh I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little scared. I mean, it's not every day you learn that your teacher has powers they can't control all the time, and has to be pulled out of it. I'm not so much scared of you personally though, just what might happen if the thing takes over you again." Alden explained.

"That's almost exactly what Severus told me when he found out." Harry remembered. "Well, I do have to give you some sort of punishment for pointing your wand at another student in anger, even if it was while you were taking up for me."

"I suggest his Hogsmeade Weekends be suspended for the next two trips." Severus said.

"I wouldn't want to make him skip that." Harry said, slightly concerned.

"It's not like I go anyways." Alden replied. "I don't get on much with most of the other students. Kind of an outcast really, so I don't go to Hogsmeade unless it's Christmas so I can buy my mum and dad something."

Harry nodded. "Then the next two Hogsmeade trips are suspended for you." A small smile appeared on his lips. "Severus, you sneaky snake. You knew that already, didn't you?"

"Are you accusing me of playing favorites Mr. Potter?" The man asked in an almost amused sounding voice.

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Harry said, smirking a bit.

"Well, allow me to inform you that had I previously known of Mr. Parkers Hogsmeade habits, it had temporarily slipped my mind when suggesting that particular punishment. However, since the punishment has already been decided upon, there's nothing I can do to change it." He gave an obviously false sigh of irritation. "Seems to have simply... Slipped my mind, as Albus would say."

Harry's smirk broke out into a wide grin. "If you keep picking up his habits, you'll become the next barmy old headmaster."

Severus raised an eyebrow, popped open his drawer, and withdrew three small yellow candies. "Lemon drop?" He asked with a serious face. For the first time since his teaching job there started, laughter was heard throughout his office and the nearby portraits crowded into the single painting within the room to see if Snape had been drugged.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Halloween was fast approaching for everyone in the castle. Severus and Harry had already had several arguments surrounding his choice to live with the werewolves, but one of the things that it appeared Sev was most worried about was the possibility of Harry losing it, and his dark companion not being able to be there to draw him out of it. Granted, the man was also worried whether or not what they had together would survive being so far apart for so long, and whether or not they would be able to visit each other during his absence.

Harry had reminded Severus that if he were to lose it while he was there, their bracelets would portkey the older wizard directly to him so he could draw him from it. This little bit of knowledge, that Snape had overlooked, seemed to help calm him about the whole ordeal. The young savior had sent a letter to Macoval, which prompted him for a Christmas visit with Harry and his family. Though he hadn't told Draco and Dudley about it yet, he had a feeling they would be finding out soon, and he had no idea what their reactions would be. While he had initially expected Draco to have a hissy fit, he wasn't so sure anymore as the young blond was proving more and more that he wasn't the man Harry'd thought he was.

The fire in Severus' chambers flew to life, and the headmistress' head appeared in it. "Ah there you both are! Severus, Harry, I would like to see you both in my office, pronto!" She stated, then withdrew her head.

"Wonder what this is about." Harry muttered.

"I've no idea. If she asks me to chaperone again this year, I am declining. I did it last year, someone else can have a turn." Severus said, a tiny bit huffy.

They flooed in to her office, and took seats while she stared at a piece of parchment. After a few moments of silence, she spoke up. "It seems as though Albus had known Harry would be teaching here sooner or later." She stated. "This letter was charmed to appear the week before Halloween that Harry came back. I'll just read out the part that pertains to you both."

_**Finally, once young Harry begins teaching here, he and Severus are to chaperone the Halloween and Valentines parties of their first year as colleagues. Together. They will no doubt make many excuses as to why they should not be placed together, but they are not to leave your office until they cooperate. The only thing that will void this order, is the event of death to one, or both of them. **_

"As you can see, these are orders, not suggestions." Minerva stated.

"Meddling old coot, even wants to control us from beyond the grave. Where is his painting? I ought to give him a piece of my mind." Severus muttered.

"Well it shouldn't be that bad. Besides, it's not as if we have any qualms with working together." Harry stated.

"I chaperoned last year." The dark wizard stated, crossing his hands over his chest. "I'll not be made to watch over the little brats again. The Valentines party is an outright no as well, I do not _do_ Valentines day."

"I've got no problem with it." Harry said, leaning back in his chair.

"Well... He gave me no instructions on what to say if you used that excuse." Minerva said, glancing over the paper again.

"He gave you come-backs for the excuses I might use?" Severus asked, slightly bewildered.

"Oh yes. All sorts of nice retorts. I'm even keeping the list should you make similar excuses throughout the year for anything else." The woman smiled.

"Why Minerva, I never knew you to use blackmail material before." Harry admonished, clearly amused.

"That's because you only knew the professor side of me Harry dear." She replied, sending a wink.

"Yes, she's nearly as manipulative as her predecessor." Snape said, still irritated. "I will not-"

He was cut off by Harry leaning up and whispering something in his ear. When the young man moved away, he cleared his throat and his cheeks barely showed a faint tinge of color. "Yes well... I shall chaperone this god-forsaken party."

Minerva smiled brightly. "Now, about your costumes..."

Severus leveled a glare at the woman. "If you push me, I shall dress as a Death Eater. I've kept the mask you know, and that style of robes is not hard to find."

"Right... Nevermind then. Off you go, glad to have you both so agreeable."

"Not quite yet." A malicious smile appeared on the dark wizard's face. "In compensation, I demand that the astronomy tower and the trophy room be off limits to children tonight after supper."

Harry's face paled. "Severus! You can't be seriously suggesting what I think you are."

The older wizard simply glanced at the young man. "You said anywhere."

"But I-" Harry was cut off.

"And the quidditch pitch." Snape said. "Tell the students I will be researching potions ingredients."

Minerva looked at the two warily. "What kind of potion ingredient could you possibly be researching on those locations?"

"Essence of Potter." Severus replied with a smirk.

"Oh my. I didn't want to know that." She said, burying her face into her hands. A move which Harry mimicked.

* * *

><p>When the day of the Halloween Party came around, nearly everyone was eager to get the the Great Hall. They had all been told some sort of surprise was going to be there, and since Voldemort had been destroyed, they knew it had to be something wonderful. Plus, almost everyone had been sent money from their families with instructions not to spend it until Halloween.<p>

The only one who seemed to know anything about the surprise was Harry, and he had been keeping his lips shut tight. As students lined up outside of the door in various costumes, the only adult in sight was the Bloody Baron. Granted, he was a ghost, but somehow Harry had gotten him to participate in this event.

The students came to the Great Hall in droves. When the last stray first year showed up at a quarter to 5, the Baron spoke. "There shall be a costume contest this evening, and each year will garner one winner. The winner of their year will receive one free product from any of the booths set up inside. You may enter." And promptly fled through walls to get away from the annoying children.

Whispers started flying. No one had heard anything about a contest even though they'd all been told costumes were allowed. Some of the students were missing, all of them were 7th years, where were they? What kind of booths could possibly be set up? The doors to the Great Hall flew open, and they filed in, taking sight of everything around them.

There were decorations everywhere, so much so that it put the Yule Ball to shame. Orange and black were the main colors, and most of the ghosts had been invited. Many were flying around the room, and Peeves was the first to see the students, so he immediately set out to fly through a small group of them.

Booths were set up, most of them with the 7th years who had been missing running them. Out of the monstrous amount of candy, sweet, and food booths, there were also some which held knick-knacks, books, enchanted items which would be useful in school, a fortune telling booth, and even one that held a pair of identical smiling faces and red hair.

Harry called their attention with a small exploding prank product. "As you can see, there are several booths set up for your pleasure. Last week, we sent out a letter to each of your parents, requesting that they send you some spending money for tonight. They were asked to not tell you the reasoning, and I know many of you have been curious about it when you received it.

The money you spend tonight at these booths shall go to rebuilding homes and the care of those who have been affected in the war with Voldemort. Not a single knut goes to these booth owners' profit. I urge you to spend what you want, but remember to look around and see all of the booths before you spend it all." A small but of murmuring quickly turned into loud talking, and Harry needed to set off another exploding prank product.

"Now, second announcement. As the Baron has kindly informed you, there will be a costume contest throughout the night. There is no sign up sheet, but I do ask that you please wear these, which are color coded to signify your year." He set off another product, no doubt from the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, and small bracelets of various colors shot out, making their way to the students.

"If you do not wish to participate in the contest, then simply tell your bracelet no, and it will disappear." A few scattered no's were heard. "Third announcement. If you are caught stealing from any of the booths, the owners have the right to disqualify you from the contest, take house points, and set up detentions with either myself, Professor Snape, or Mr. Filch. Is all that understood?"

A chorus of, 'Yes, Professor.' was heard, and the man smiled. "Good! Now, get on with it, and have fun!"

Severus groaned from his shadowy corner. Of course Potter would give the little brats an excuse to run wild. With all of the pranks they could get from the Weasleys, poor Snape would have to ward his classroom doubly so. He had spent the better part of the last two days trying to talk Harry out of allowing those blasted red-heads a booth, but never could. He cursed himself for being the one who came up with the idea of booths to begin with.

Giggling, squealing, talking, screaming, and the constant noise of feet on the floor were giving the poor man a headache. A hand on his shoulder made him open his eyes. "Here love. It'll get rid of that headache you're no doubt coming down with." Harry said handing the man a vial.

The dark wizard graciously accepted it, and quickly downed the bitter potion. Immediately he noticed a couple off snogging in another corner, and smirked. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but Minerva did give us both permission to deduct house points should we feel the need."

Harry snorted, "Yes she did. Go deduct to your heart's content." At that, Severus swooped off, and did just so.

* * *

><p>Around 8, Harry called the attention of everyone again. "We have our winners!" He pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket. "The owners of the booths acted as judges for the contest. In 7th year, for the costume of a leprechaun, the prize goes to Slytherin Micheal Donivic!" Applause was heard as the boy was taken to the area that usually held the High Table.<p>

"In 6th year, for the costume of a giant slice of supreme pizza, the prize goes to Gryffindor Felicity Fairweather!" More applause was heard on this one, as her costume had indeed been edible and never-ending, so many of the students got a taste of the cheesy, saucy goodness that was pizza. She too found herself on the makeshift stage.

"In 5th year, for the joint costume of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, the prize goes to Ravenclaws Lauren and Leanne Ribothtan!"

"In 4th year, for the costume of a basilisk, the prize goes to Slytherin Calvin Flint!"

"In 3rd year, for the costume of Merlin, the prize goes to Hufflepuff Sharona McVoll!"

"In 2nd year, for the joint costume of a three headed dog, the prize goes to Hufflepuff Marcus Lowerly, Gryffindor Terence Flashtor, and Ravenclaw Carline Sorothin!"

"In 1st year, for the costume of a giant owl, the prize goes to Gryffindor Marina Malshrot!" When the last bit of applause died down, Harry continued. "I have two more announcements. As you know, the prize is a free item of each and every one of the winners choices from any booth, however at the last minute, another prize was added. 10 points go the houses of all of the winners for each person standing beside me!

The other announcement, there is another winner, and a different prize to be given for this particular 7th year. For the costume of Dolores Umbridge being attacked by a hoard of toads, this prize goes to Slytherin Harold Harvet. Mr. Harvet, your costume seemed to catch the eye of the Weasley Brothers, and had them threatening me with several of their products should I not allow you to receive two items from their booth free of charge!"

At that announcement, the 6th and 7th years erupted with applause, congratulations, and laughter. The other years applauded as well, though they didn't seem to understand the hilarity of the situation. While the winners were choosing their products, Severus slipped over to Harry who had taken a seat at a table off in the corner. "10 points per winner?" He asked.

"Well Minerva thought you would wind up deducting loads of points tonight, and wanted to even it out a bit." Harry said, smirking.

"Indeed." He stated simply, sitting beside the man. They chatted for a few minutes, and Alden came up to them. "Mr. Parker, what is it?"

"Oh uhm, I just wanted to... Well I heard something, and I don't what's going to happen, but I thought you should know." He said, a bit nervous.

Snape raised an eyebrow and Harry pulled over another chair. "Why not tell us what's on your mind." The young professor said.

Taking a seat, the young boy nodded his head and started in a low whisper. "I just overheard someone saying that their plan was all laid out. Someone else beside them said good, and that someone wouldn't what hit them. I don't know who said it, but the voices sounded male, and I just wanted to give you a heads up should anything happen."

"That's very kind of you Alden." Harry said.

"We are always attentive to the things around us. Though your help was not necessary, it is... appreciated. We shall up our range of visibility." Snape said. He wasn't too used to giving out compliments like that, and was even more unused to being informed of illicit pranks that might harm him or his students.

"That's his way of saying thank you." Harry told the boy. "Why don't you go back and have some fun? There's still forty five minutes left of the party."

"Oh uh, no thank you. I'll just head back to the dorm." He nodded to the professors and slipped out from the room.

Harry and Severus were chatting in the former's rooms that night after the party. Suddenly, Kieran, Harry's snake, slithered in and started hissing feverishly. **There isss a green youngling lying by the lake. It doesss not ressspond to me, I think it isss hurt.**

**Thank you Kieran. **"Sev, someone's passed out by the lake, we need to go see if they're okay." Harry said, putting his outer robes back on and walking to the door with the dark wizard in tow.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Once Harry and Severus arrived at the lake they saw what appeared to be a bundle of robes. When they drew nearer to the pile, they saw that it was indeed a student just as Kieran had told them. Harry bent down and felt the neck for a pulse, and thankfully there was one. Turning the child over so Harry might cast a levitation spell, both of the men were stunned when it appeared to be Alden Parker.

The boy had burn marks about his face and arms, bruises on his neck, and his clothing was singed all down the front. Harry picked the boy up rushing to the infirmary.

"Why don't you levitate him?" Severus asked on the way.

"It would be impersonal. He tried to tell us something was going to happen, and we didn't realize whatever it was would happen to him. It's only right I carry him." Harry responded.

Though the dark wizard understood this, he began to think that perhaps it was time for he and his young lover to have a serious talk. After all, Harry had been acting very familial with the child he was carrying, and Severus wasn't too sure he was at all comfortable with how accepting and open he himself was becoming around the boy.

They came to the infirmary, and Poppy was surprised to see their resident hero toting in a boy. "What happened?" She demanded as she helped the boy to a bed.

"We don't know. Kieran came in and told us someone was lying by the lake, and when we went to check, Parker was face down in the grass." Harry informed her.

She nodded, took her wand, and did some quick diagnostic scans. "Well, it seems nothing's broken, but he has some burns on his upper body. Help me get him out of these robes." She ordered.

Harry pulled his wand and quickly vanished the boy's robe and shirt to the table beside them, while Severus accio'd his personal burn slave and handed it to the Medi-Witch, who was going to use some mess from St. Mungo's. When she gave him a questioning look, he said, "I will not have you using something from that vile place on my Slytherins." He crossed his arms over his chest. "If you needed healing supplies, you should have informed me so I could make something acceptable."

"They came with the healers that were sent to us during the final battle. I don't see anything wrong with using what was given to us, but since I know you will be stubborn about it, I'll save us both the trouble and just use yours." She said snatching the small tub from Severus.

Harry rose an eyebrow at the dark wizard in a questioning manner. "And you would do this for ALL of your Slytherins?"

"Absolutely." He replied without missing a beat.

"Even Miss Hefson?" Harry asked.

It took a moment of careful consideration, but he eventually nodded. "Yes. Aside from her Hufflepuff-esque brain, and her Gryffindor stupidity, she somehow managed to get sorted into my house."

A groan from the child stopped whatever argument they might have started. Harry looked down and saw the boy's eyes half open. "Alden, can you tell us what happened?"

"Some people ambushed m- HEY, that hurts!"

"Of course it hurts, you've burns all up your arms, they're sensitive. Now hush and let Madame Pomfrey put the salve on them so you may be out of pain more than you are in it." Severus stated.

"Sorry..." Alden replied, feeling properly chastised.

"What happened?" Harry asked again.

"Oh, some boys threw something that was on fire at me, and when I touched it to try to throw it off, the fire stuck to my skin like it was glue or something similar." He replied in a low voice. "The last thing I heard was someone saying they needed to get back and tell the others."

Just then, a 7th year Gryffindor prefect girl walked into the infirmary. "Professor Potter, there you are! Bring them in Rose." Another girl came in dragging behind her two floating 6th year Gryffindor boys who were tied by rope and struggling to get loose.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here? Rose, Melanie?" Harry asked.

Melanie drew in a breath and began talking very quickly. "These two boys were in the common room bragging about setting fire to a second-year Slytherin. Someone asked what he'd done to deserve it, and that one, McTolaf, said they did it because the Slytherin simply existed. One thing led to another, and that one, Karfen, struck a first year across the face because she said that picking on those who were younger and couldn't defend themselves properly wasn't a very Gryffindor trait. Since Rose and I are prefects, we wrapped them up and went searching for you."

"I have to agree with the girl who got smacked. Attacking someone like that for no reason is why our houses always seem to keep fighting. We worked together in the war, we should be able to coexist peacefully in the castle, not attack our peers because they wear a different color on their robes." Rose stated.

"Misters McTolaf and Karfen, is there something you wish to add?" Harry asked, noting the looks of defiance on their faces.

"Oh, they wont reply sir. I used langlock on them when they tried to curse us for doing our job. By the way, thanks for that Professor Snape, it's one of the most frequent spells us prefects use." Melanie said. She turned to the boys and pointed a finger at them, "You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves. I'll make it my business to watch you carefully and when you do something that warrants it, I'll be there taking house points even if you are Gryffindors."

Rose stopped the levitating charm, and watched as the boys fell to the floor with a loud thud. "If you two so much as even step foot back into the common room without finding that boy and apologizing, I'll slap the both of you and make the house elves serve you nothing but spinach for a week."

"It's like Molly Weasley has possessed them." Severus whispered to Harry while watching the girls chastising the boys.

"I was thinking more like Hermione." Harry replied.

"We'll leave them to you Professor Potter." Melanie said. She and Rose flounced out of the infirmary, leaving the two mute and tied boys struggling on the floor.

"Right then. If you wish to avoid that slapping, I'd get working on an apology letter if I were you." Harry stated, lifting the ropes and summons quills and parchment for them. He transfigured a bed into a desk, two pillows into chairs, and sent them off to a corner.

Poppy, who had watched the entire scene, simply stared at Harry. When the boys realized they weren't getting out until they did what they were told, they made their way to the desk, defeated, and started working on those letters. Could they have grumbled, they would have, but the simple fact that their tongues were still glued to the roofs of their mouths made that impossible.

Harry threw up a silencing charm around Alden's bed, and when he was sure the other students couldn't hear it, he started chuckling.

"It's not a laughing matter, I've been burned." Alden huffed.

"I'm not laughing at your expense Alden." Harry said, through chuckles of his own. "Those two girls just reminded us of people in our past." When he'd composed himself, Harry sighed. "Well, how many house points should I deduct? I've not dealt with physical assault in the form of fire before."

"I suggest 30." Severus said.

"Right then." He popped his head out of the silencing charm and called out, "30 points from Gryffindor for assaulting another student with fire... Each. And detentions for both of you with Professor Snape." Then popped back in to their space.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Did you have to give them to me for detentions?"

"Well, since you're Alden's head of house I figured it only fair." Harry said, smiling a bit and transfiguring a chair for him to sit on. "Besides, with those two aching from scrubbing cauldrons all night, you guys might actually have a chance at winning the quidditch game tomorrow."

"As if those dunce-buckets were anything more than a hindrance to your team. And I suppose you shall be staying the night?" Snape asked.

"Of course. One of my favorite students has been harmed and tomorrow's Saturday."

"Right." Severus sighed and transfigured his own chair, sitting on the other side of the bed. Alden gave him a curious look, and the man simply said, "My partner is spending the night, and where he goes, I go. I'll not have him losing it should one of those boys decide another attack is in order."

Harry smirked. "This has absolutely nothing to do with who the patient is?"

"Not a thing." Severus said, crossing his arms. "Oh don't give me that look."

"Just admit it, you're playing favorites again."

"I most certainly am not." Snape huffed.

"I have you know I'm a much better legilimens now than I used to be." Harry said in a playfully threatening voice.

"Really? And who taught you?" The dark wizard asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You, but there comes a time when the student surpasses the master."

"What's legilimens?" Alden asked curiously.

"A skill in which one can view memories and thoughts of another being." Severus answered.

The boy's eyes widened. "So you can both read minds?"

Harry laughed. "No, not quite. If someone is adapt at occlumency they can block us out."

"Do we learn this at school?" He asked.

"Dear lord no." Severus said. "If I had to teach that to every one of you brats I'd go mad."

"I only learned it because of the connection I had with Voldemort. He used to invade my dreams and send me visions, and I needed to learn occlumency to block him out." He thought for a moment, then turned to Severus. "Speaking of that, I never apologized properly for looking into your pensive. I'm very sorry Severus, it was a stupid thing of me to do, and I deserved being tossed out like that. It was an invasion of your privacy, and I've been thinking that perhaps a good compensation would be for you to take a peek at the journal I used during school."

"Then consider the entire matter compensated for." Severus replied.

"What?" Harry asked, a bit confused.

"Your cousin demanded I read an entry from your journal right after the first time you lost it in the manor. They were arguing with me over whether or not you truly had feelings for me, and when he got fed up with my denying it and excusing your behavior on some sort of magic taking over you, Dudley brought me your journal and had me read a passage from your 6th year." Snape explained.

Harry groaned a bit. "I should probably be mad about that, but I can't make myself. It was the passage about the dream I had surrounding you and the forbidden forest wasn't it?"

Severus tilted his head to the side. "Haven't read that one. No, it was the passage in which you complained about my assigning detention for breathing on a potion."

"Oh Merlin." Harry said, covering his face with his hands. "That one's even worse."

"That passage was the reason I'd went after you that night. Couldn't bear the thought of possibly losing you after learning that."

"Yes well, as wonderfully as that worked out, Dudley's still going to be in trouble this weekend when I go check on him at the manor."

"What's living in a manor like?" Alden asked.

"Like heaven." Harry replied. Severus gave him an odd look, so he went on. "When you live in little house with only a few bedrooms and perhaps one or two bathrooms, going to live at a Manor is like an amazing vacation and having a small castle all to yourself."

"I wish I lived in a manor." The boy stated. "How big are they usually?"

Harry looked to Severus to answer that. The man rolled his eyes. "Normally I haven't a clue. Mine however, has 10 bedrooms, 5 full bathrooms and 3 half bathrooms, a kitchen, two dining rooms, one for guests and one for family, a sitting room, a small ballroom, a library, a study room, two offices, three empty rooms to be fashioned into whatever the occupants wish - one of which is a personal potions laborotry -, a basement, an attic, and quarters for house-elves, complete with nursery should they reproduce."

"That sounds amazing." Alden said, lowering his head to the pillow. "I'm going to visit a manor one day."

Harry had been curious about the boy, so he asked, "What's your home like?"

Alden went stiff, and glanced away. "It's just a house. Nothing special."

That answer wasn't sitting well with the young professor, but before he had the chance to question Parker, the two Gryffindor boys were beside him, and holding out their letters. Harry took them, scanned them, and handed them to the child, then muttered some sort of charm on the boys' mouths. "That was a timing spell. You've both got an hour until the langlock wears off. Go on then, out."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

The next day, Harry and Severus had went to the manor after Alden had been released. Even Poppy had to agree that had she used the stuff brought from St. Mungo's, it would have taken much longer to heal. Snape's only reply was that he knew.

When they'd reached the manor, Draco was teaching Dudley how to play exploding snap. As Harry and Severus came into the sitting room, Harry gave Draco a wink, and the latter smiled brightly. Harry suddenly took Severus' hand and broke out into song. "I took my troubles down to Mister Snape, you know that wizard with the flowing cape."

Draco took up the song next. "He's got a pad down in a muggle countryside, Sellin' little bottles of Love Potion Number Nine!"

Severus was about to ask what the hell they were doing, but was cut off before he could start when Harry went on. "To the chorus!"

Both he and Draco loudly sang together, "I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink!"

Harry continued solo, "I didn't know if it was day or night, I started kissing everything in sight, but when I kissed his lips down in that muggle countryside, he broke my little bottle of-"

"LOVE POTION NUMBER NINE!" They finished together, and Harry reached up to grab Severus' head, pulled him down, and gave him one hell of a kiss.

When they pulled apart, Snape stated, "I was going to yell at you for butchering that song, but the ending was worth it."

"Good." Harry stated, still grinning like an idiot. He pulled out some galleons from his pocket and placed them in Draco's hand. "Thanks for helping me Dray."

"Not a problem, always glad to be of service when I get paid for it." The blond replied.

"Now that you've worked that out of your system, what were you planning on doing?" Severus asked.

"Oh I was thinking of taking Draco to Hogwarts and serenading Minerva with, 'What's New Pussycat'." At the glare he received, he chuckled. "Oh you meant about Dudley."

"What about me?" The young man in question asked.

"You are in trouble." Harry stated, trying to look serious - and failing miserably.

"Why, what did I do?"

"Does the phrase, 'detention for breathing too hard' ring any bells?" Harry asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Didn't you say something about that recently?" Dudley asked, thinking. "Oh crap." He said when he realized where he'd heard it. "I'm sorry about that, I was trying to convince Mr. Snape that you really did have feelings for him and he wouldn't believe me so I went-"

"Don't worry about it." Harry said, lowering his arms and smiling a bit. "I just wanted to scare you a bit for the whole invasion of privacy thing. Truth be told, Sev and I probably wouldn't be together right now had it not been for you."

They all chatted a while and Dudley showed off the latest spell he'd learned from Hermione, which was the unlocking charm. Suddenly Draco called their attention. "That reminds me, Hermione said something about her and Weasley coming over during Christmas break."

Harry let out a long sigh, and Severus sat back await the scene that was sure to happen. "She can come over and visit with you guys if it's alright with Sev. I wont be here until Christmas eve."

"What? Why?" Both Draco and Dudley demanded.

"I'll be visiting a werewolf." When he received odd looks from the two, he sighed again and explained to them everything, about meeting the man, the offer to be trained by his clan, the letter he'd sent explaining that he would visit during Christmas so they could talk over everything that would be needed. and the things he'd planned on doing.

"You can't just go off like that! What if something happened to you? A YEAR without seeing us? What would happen to..." Draco's eyes went dark, he stood and walked up to Harry, grabbing the man's robes and pulling him forward. "If you hurt my godfather over this, so help me, I'll make your life hell, and don't you think I can't, you may be Harry Potter, but I'm a Malfoy and I have the money." He threatened, releasing the man and stomping back to his seat.

"Right... That went as expected. I don't plan on hurting him, so you know. I actually love him." He said, refusing to allow the blush that was trying to force it's way out.

Draco and Dudley shared twin looks of amazement, and the former glanced to his godfather, who simply nodded to show he felt the same. He always did have problems with saying that particular phrase in front of anyone who wasn't the one it was directed at.

After Harry was made to explain every detail to the men, which took about two hours, he stated that they needed to get back to Hogwarts in case their students came looking for them. "I want to go with you." Dudley said. "Hermione's not going to be able to teach me for the next week, and Draco's told me so much about Hogwarts, I just want to see what everything's like. I didn't get to look around that much at the party, and I want to see you teaching in action."

"Alright then, you can stay in my guest quarters for a week." Harry said, smiling.

* * *

><p>After Dudley had finished setting up his belongings in Harry's guest quarters, he was led to Harry's office, where the latter spent a good hour grading essays. Bored out of his wits, Dudley groaned. "Doesn't anything exciting ever happen?"<p>

Harry chuckled. "All the time. Just right now, these need grading. I'm almost finished, another two papers and I go on patrol."

"What happens on patrol?" The other young man asked.

"I look for children who are breaking rules, deduct house points if I catch them, and hope like hell nothing deadly happens to any of my students... Speaking of that, I need to check on Parker in a little bit. He got burned badly yesterday by some right assholes." He put the final mark on the last paper and got up, motioning for Dudley to join him.

Only ten minutes into his patrol, he found a boy pointing his wand at a gargoyle, demanding entrance to some place. "Mr. Nallin, what's going on here?"

The young man spun around and tried to hide his wand. "N-nothing sir." The boy stammered out.

"Right." Harry said. He turned to the gargoyle. "What was he doing to you?"

The stony gargoyle huffed. "Threatening me with some spell if I didn't let him past me. He seems to think there's a room behind me."

"Mr. Nallin, there is no room behind this gargoyle. What on earth would make you think something like that?"

"A 6th year said there was a secret room here." The boy replied defensively.

"Trust me, there's nothing there. 5 points from Gryffindor for threatening that gargoyle." Harry said. "Now, get out of here."

When the child left, Dudley said, "I didn't know gargoyles could talk."

Harry smirked, but didn't say anything as he led the way. Several hallways and passages later, they came upon the dungeons. Alden was coming from the common room, so Harry didn't have to go searching for him, but the boy wasn't looking up so he didn't see the man. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Alden, is everything alright?" Harry asked.

"Yes sir." He said. Then he shook his head. "No sir, it's not." He sighed, and took out the apology letters, then handed them to Harry. "I was reading over these, and I was bored so I decided to do a thing I do where I play around with the capital letters of words and see if they make anything after being scrambled up. I noticed that every capital letter when put chronologically with one another spells out a threat. I didn't even have to scramble them."

Harry read over the notes that were scribbled in the margins. One of them spelled out, 'you're going to pay' and the other, 'ice burns hotter than fire'. Harry shook his head. "I'll keep these as proof if something happens, alright?"

Alden nodded, then noticed Dudley. "Oh, hello sir. Who are you?"

"I'm Dudley, Harry's cousin." The strange man said.

"Oh, pleasure to meet you." The child said, holding out a hand, which Dudley shook.

Alden made his excuses to leave, and Harry shook his head again. He walked in silence with Dudley to Snape's office. When they entered, he took his lover's attention. "Something's wrong with Parker. Those boys threatened him with their apology letters, but I don't think that is what's bothering him."

"Oh, how do you mean?" Severus asked.

"I'm not sure. It's just something I feel. Can I use your floo?" He asked.

Severus nodded, then Harry went and called for Minerva. "Can you please find something out for me?" He asked. Silence was all the other two heard, but he continued. "Thanks, I need to know if Alden Parker's home life is okay... Right, thanks again." He took his head from the fire.

* * *

><p>The next evening, in the Great Hall, Minerva handed a bit of parchment to Harry on her way out. When he read over it, his breath became a bit shallow and his hand trembled. Severus and Dudley both looked at him with worry, and he handed the parchment to his lover, then stalked off from the hall. Severus read it to find out what was wrong.<p>

_**H,**_

_**I found some interesting things while digging. The boy has no living relatives, and seems to be staying in a small house about 50 miles from the Weasleys with only a house-elf during his summers. The goblins at Gringotts wouldn't tell me how he pays for his schooling, but I assume he's using a vault left over from his parents' wills. His mother and father are buried at a cemetery near his house, and their graves are covered in flowers and small gifts, many of the items worn with age. They died together in 93. Still searching for the reason.**_

_**I'm afraid I will have to turn him over to the Ministry with this knowledge, unless something can be done about it. A child should not be living alone like that. Meet me in my office after you've read this, we need to have a discussion.**_

_**~M**_

Severus sighed. He feared the possibility of what was going to happen. _Wait, didn't he say he bought gifts at Christmas for his parents? _The man thought. He made his way to his rooms first to pick something up, then to the headmistress' office. Minerva looked at him, sort of startled. "What can I do for you Severus?" She asked.

"I assume Harry is here speaking with you about what was on the note. I've come to put my two cents in as well." He said.

"We haven't talked about it yet, she'd just brought us tea. I'll share mine with you." Harry said.

"Right... Well, best not to delay this any further. As you know, I can not in good consciousness simply ignore the situation surround Mr. Parker. I shall have to turn him over to the Ministry unless something is done about it."

"He can't go to the Ministry, they'd never get him adopted because his uncle was a Death Eater." Harry stated.

"I am aware of that. I had hoped that you might be able to do something to rectify the situation." She said.

Harry looked confused. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Well, you have been growing very close with the boy, as has Severus." She hinted.

"Yes, he's a good student. He tries hard, and he has a strong sense of what's fair." Harry complimented.

"And you tend to look out for him all the time." She went on.

"Yes, he's not got a lot of friends, so I keep my eye on him." Harry stated, still a bit confused.

"Severus has even shown that he cares what happens to the boy, or he wouldn't be here right now." She added.

Harry looked to the dark wizard and nodded. "Yes, well, Alden is a Slytherin after all."

Severus shook his head and rubbed at his temple. "You're not suggesting what I think you are Minerva." He stated.

"Whatever could you mean?" She asked, smirking a bit.

"That's what I thought." Severus stated, giving a sigh of resignation. "At least give the boy a choice when Harry says yes."

"Yes to what? What am I missing?" Harry asked.

Snape looked at him in something akin to amused irritation. "What did you want to do the last time a magical child was around you with no parents to speak of?" He asked.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything." A few moments of silence passed, then his eyes grew large. "You can't seriously be suggesting that Minerva!"

"I'm not suggesting a thing." She said innocently. "It's not my business what my professors do in their spare time."

Harry looked at his lover. "And you're comfortable with this?"

"I am not comfortable with allowing a child into our lives until we're at least engaged." Severus replied.

"Oh." Harry replied, looking defeated.

"Merlin, you're out right daft sometimes." Snape replied. He pulled something from his pocket which he'd gotten on his detour to his rooms earlier, then handed it to Harry.

The young man looked at the small green box in his hands, rather confused. When he gave a look to Snape, the man simply told him to open it. He removed the silver ribbon from the box, and tipped off the lid. Staring at him was a beautiful ring made of silver in the shape of a snake with gold etching for the scales, one emerald eye and one ruby. "I don't understand." Harry whispered.

"I'm asking you to marry me you twit." Snape replied.

Harry looked up, searching the man's face, sure that this was some sort of cruel joke. All he found was honesty, and a tinge of nervousness. "My god... You're serious." Before the man could respond with a witty come-back about him be Severus and not Sirius, Harry was wrapped around him like a scarf on a cold winter day. "Yes! Of course, yes I'll marry you!" Harry squealed in his ear, planting kisses all over the man's face.

They didn't hear the knocking at the door, and didn't see Minerva leading Dudley inside. What they did hear was Dudley saying, "Oh god, could you not stick your tongue down his throat while I'm here?"

Harry looked at his cousin, his face flushed. "We're getting married." He said, smiling, then returned to kissing the man.

"That's wonderful!" Dudley said. "But I still don't want to see you playing around with his tonsils."

Harry stopped kissing the man in front of him, and settled on to his lap. "Yes, well... Sorry about that."

Severus raised an eyebrow at his new fiance... he was going to have to get used to calling Harry that... who seemed quite content to just sit on him. Dudley broke the silence. "I just came by because you left so suddenly and I couldn't find you. I guess I got my answer, I'll just head back to the rooms." He slipped from the office and Minerva chuckled.

"Not to interrupt the happy moment, but we are here concerning Mr. Parker." She said.

"And if you recall, I stated that we would have to be engaged before I felt comfortable allowing a child to come into our lives." Severus stated.

"You mean it?" Harry asked. "You're really okay with this happening so soon?"

"Not entirely, but I will grow accustomed to it, just as you will grow accustomed to being a father figure to someone merely 6 years younger than yourself. I have watched Parker for over a year now, and thanks to you, or should I say no thanks to you, I find myself worrying about what might happen to him. I realize that the Ministry wouldn't be able to find him a home thanks to his uncle's stupid decision, and I know your heart goes out to people in need, so in turn I also realize that the boy will inevitably wind up in our home. It was simply a matter of time, and it's better to do something like this early so he has as little hardship to deal with as possible."

The only thing Harry thought to do was bury his face into the crook of the man's shoulder. "I love you Severus."

Snape willed his mind to forget that Minerva was present. "I love you as well. This ring had better be a reminder so you never forget it." He replied, taking the bit of jewelry from the box and slipping it onto Harry's finger.

"I suppose we'd ought to speak with Alden then." Harry said, still smiling.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

As Harry and Severus exited the headmistress' office, they found Dudley talking with a painting near the gargoyle guard. "What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I got lost and found my way back here, and was trying to get directions from this person, but they're not very helpful." He said. "No offense." He told the painting quickly.

"None taken. It's been so long since I've walked the castle, I've no clue how to get around really." The man in the portrait replied. He appeared to be a headmaster from very long ago.

Harry chuckled. "I'll show you the way back to our rooms once we talk with Alden. If he says yes, he'd be living with us, so it'd be a good idea for him to get to know you."

Dudley nodded and followed behind the two men, trying to memorize the way they went. When they came to a hidden door, Dudley spoke up. "I don't remember going this way the last time you went to see him."

Harry beamed proudly, glad his cousin was really trying. "That's because this is a secret passage that the students aren't supposed to know about and we didn't go through here last time. We use it to slip from the Slytherin area to the Ravenclaw area and vice versa undetected. It kind of acts as a portal." He explained.

As they stepped through, they walked to the door leading to the Slytherin common-room. They found only a fourth year girl sitting there, reading a book. "Excuse me, is Mr. Parker around?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, no sir Professor Potter. He's out by the lake. He goes there sometimes when he's sad." She said.

"I wonder what he's sad about." Dudley said.

"Probably his parents." The girl stated. "He doesn't get letters from them, and there's this mean upper-class girl who rubs his nose in it. She got some sweets today from her mum, and taunted Alden with them."

"She wouldn't perhaps be Miss Hefson, would she?" Harry asked.

"Yes, how'd you know?" The girl responded with her own question.

"We've had some dealings with her in the past." He answered.

"Oh my god." The girl said. "You're wearing a bonding ring." Her eyes were wide, and she looked to Snape. "Are you two- I mean, will you be married? To Professor Snape?"

Harry broke out into a grin, and Severus simply smirked a bit, then nodded. The girl ran up and hugged her head of house. "I'm glad you found someone sir." Quickly realizing that she was actually hugging the man, she released him and glanced around to make sure no one saw. "Sorry about that, I was worried I'd have to obliviate someone if they saw me hugging you. Wouldn't do for me to ruin your reputation." She giggled.

"I'm afraid Mr. Potter has already done quite a wonderful job of shredding said reputation to bits and then some. Otherwise you wouldn't have had the guts to accost me like that." He stated in amusement.

The girl gave a grin of her own. "I see he's also given you a sense of humor. Well done Professor Potter." She flounced off to the girls' dorm rooms.

"Right then, to the lake!" Harry stated. Once they'd reached the outside away from prying ears, Harry asked, "You were awful mellow just then. Did you smoke this morning?"

"I never smoke when I know a child will be in my presence within the next 18 hours." Severus stated. "So no."

"Ahh right then. I'm glad to know that actually. I just had a thought that we should stop smoking that stuff if Alden's going to live with us. Don't need to get him wanting it too." Harry said.

"I'm glad to see you using your brain. I had a similar thought myself." Snape stated. "I'll get rid of it when we get back to the manor. I know someone who would die from shock and joy were I to give it to him."

"Oh? Anyone I know?" Harry asked.

"Indeed. Have you ever seen a quarter goblin stoned Mr. Potter?"

Harry gave a scandalized look. "No!" He gasped. "Really? Him?" Snape only nodded. "Merlin, invite me over when you do that. I want to see how he acts."

"He tends to sing quite a bit." Snape commented. Harry snorted.

When they reached the lake, sure enough, Alden was there, leaning against a rock and staring into the water. "Whatcha doing?" Harry asked him.

The boy jumped a bit, then looked towards the approaching men and gave a faint smile. "Thinking." He said.

"Oh, what about?" Harry inquired.

"Life. What I'm going to do this summer, and every summer after."

"Well, I'd assume you'd go back home, ya know?" Harry said.

"Easier said than done." Alden told him in an almost whisper. Quickly, he put on his best happy face and tried to convince them everything was alright.

Harry was having none of that. "Listen, Alden. We've found out something today." He started. "There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just come right out with it. We know you're staying alone in that house during the summer, and that's just not safe for you."

The boy's eyes widened a bit. "Please tell me this is a nightmare and you don't really know that."

"I'm sorry, but we do. We were informed by Headmistress McGonagall." Harry went on.

Alden shook his head and buried his face in his hands. "She's going to send me to the Ministry. I'll never-"

"Shush Alden. I have some questions that I want answered." He said. The boy just nodded solemnly, assured that whatever he said to them couldn't be any worse than the knowledge that he would being shipped off to a place that would condemn him because of his family. "How long have you lived on your own?"

"Since the final battle... My uncle was taking care of me. The Death Eater."

"That's better than I expected. When did your parents die?" He'd already known the answer to this thanks to Minerva, but he wanted to see if the boy would tell the truth.

The boy lowered his head more, if that was even possible, and mumbled, "When I was 7."

Harry nodded, glad of the child's honesty. "How are you paying for Hogwarts?"

"Mum left a vault for me in her will that was to be my tuition and supply money should I ever come here." He answered. "When I go to the Ministry, are they going to take that vault?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know if they take the vaults from their wards, but I doubt it. Do you have anyone at all to take care of you during the summer?"

"Sloffy, my house-elf. She was willed to me as well." He sighed. "I've no living family."

"Would you like one?" Harry asked.

The boy glanced up at the man. "What do you mean?"

"Would you like a family?" Harry repeated.

"Of course I would, but wanting something and getting something are two completely different matters."

"Better question. Would you like to forgo all of this ministry nonsense and get a family right now?"

"I'm not sure I understand." The boy said.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Really, this boy is as slow as you Potter." He turned to the child. "He's asking if you'd like to be adopted by us."

Alden stared at the man, then flicked his eyes back and forth between the two professors. "Is this a joke? Because if it is, it's not very funny."

Harry smiled. "It's not a joke. It's a serious question, and I don't want to sign papers controlling your future without your consent."

"I... Would I still be able to visit my parents graves and give them their Christmas presents every year?" The child asked seriously. That was his tradition, and he'd be damned if someone would take that away from him.

"Of course, more often than that if you'd like." Harry replied. "I've gotta warn you though, if you say yes, you're going to have more family than you can shake a wand at. There's the Weasleys, all eight of them, not including the crazy female of the lot who seems to think I am going to marry her, the Grangers, three there, Dudley, Draco, Minerva, Severus, and myself. That's 16 off the top of my head. Oh, and we can't forget about Fluer, Bill's wife. She's a Weasley now, so that's 17."

"Let's not forget Poppy. She's seen both of us in the infirmary more times than possible to count, it's only fair to include her since we would invite her to gatherings as well." Severus informed them.

"Right, so 18. Nope, make that 19, Teddy Lupin is my godson, and when Mrs. Tonks finds herself unable to take care of him, I'll be taking over. Shouldn't happen for a good decade or more though, but he's still family."

Severus suddenly had a thought cross his mind that he'd been meaning to get to the bottom of. "I just remembered, when you first asked to live with me, I was under the assumption that Fred Weasley had died, as you said he wasn't there anymore, but I saw him at the Halloween party. What happened with that?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? Fred never died, he was in St. Mungo's for a month. Apparently he got hit on the head, didn't know who he was, and had to be rehabilitated. He's just got all his memories back last week."

"Ahhh, you meant mentally not there then." Snape stated. "Right, on with whatever you were saying to try and convince the boy, even though it hardly looks like he needs any convincing."

When Harry looked at Alden, the child's face was alight with wonder, eagerness, and a bit of confusion. Harry smiled. "Well, what do you say to that? A completely dysfunctional family of 19 people."

"I say it sounds like a dream come true." The boy said. "Are you sure I'm not dreaming? I didn't fall asleep on the rock or anything, did I?"

"No you're not dreaming."

"Then I would love to live with you!" The child said, his eyes alight.

"Good! Then let's go have Minerva draw up the proper documents, and get to signing." Harry said. "Oh, by the way, Severus and I are getting married. Just thought you ought to know."

"I'm happy to hear that!" Alden said in all honesty. "Oh, uhm... What do I call you two?"

"Well, in class the same as you always have. Out of class, our first names are acceptable." Severus stated.

Alden smiled. "I was afraid you'd make me call you both dad."

Severus made a face. "I don't think I would ever want to be called dad. Papa maybe, if the child was small enough when they came to us, but nothing else. No, you are to call us what you are comfortable with."

The boy nodded, and Harry thought of something. "Hey, guess what. It looks like you're going to get to live in a manor after all."

"20." Severus said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"We have 20 in the family. Dobby seems to stick to you like an annoying little brother." The dark wizard replied.

Harry chuckled. "Make that 21, Alden's just agreed to be part of it. 22 if he wants to bring Sloffy."

"Could I?" He asked giddily.

"Of course. We often bond with some house-elves, and sometimes consider them family. I would never ask you to leave her behind when she's been so kind to take care of you." Harry said.

"23." Dudley said. When they all stopped walking and looked back, he smiled. "Luna's been writing me through owl ever since that party. We're kind of going out. She meets us sometimes at the Three Broomsticks for lessons, and she's agreed to duel with me the first time. We're getting serious."

Harry smiled. "I always did like her. Sort of thought of her as a nutty sister. Alright then, 23."

"24. My personal house-elf Litsy." Severus stated.

Harry snorted. "Yes, after all, anyone who can get away with ordering you around and wagging their finger at you like a naughty child must be family."

"I'd actually pay to see that." Alden mused.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

As they were sitting in Minerva's office, waiting for her to come back from the Ministry with the proper paperwork, Harry had a sudden thought. "Alden, before anything gets signed, I want to let you know something. I'll be going away for a year, starting end of term. You'd be at the manor with Severus, Dudley, and Draco that summer, and then again at the following Christmas and Easter. Otherwise you'll be in school. I will be sending owls weekly though. Are you okay with that?"

Alden nodded. "Absolutely. We still have the better part of 7 months to get to know each other, plus you'll be coming back, so it's not like it's goodbye."

Harry smiled, again proud of someone else. "I don't know what I did to deserve all of you."

"You mean besides destroying the Dark Lord on several occasions." Severus told him.

"And surviving almost 17 years of abuse and neglect from the hands of your relatives." Dudley added.

"And saving the entire wizarding world from a reign of terror." Alden added as well.

Harry couldn't help the smile on his face. "Yes, right. I suppose I do deserve this then, when you put it like that."

Finally, Minerva came back, and they signed documents with her and Dudley as the two needed witnesses. With a small spark of purple magic, the document was officiated, and Alden Parker became the legal son of Misters Harry Potter and Severus Snape.

"Well, tomorrow is a school day, so you Mr. Parker need to get to bed. It's after curfew." Harry stated.

"I kept my last name?" He asked.

"Of course." Harry said.

"I just figured it would change to Snape or Potter. I'm kind of glad I get to keep it though, it's something that's me." Alden smiled.

"Speaking of last names, Severus, when we marry, will I be taking your last name, or you mine? Or will we keep ours separately? Or hyphenate?"

"I'd just assumed we'd keep them separately." Snape said.

"I can deal with that. With us being the only heirs to each of our names and all. Right, bed. Now." Harry said.

The boy smiled wide and nodded his head, rushing off to the Slytherin dorm. The three men made their way from the office to Harry's rooms. Dudley glanced at his cousin. "Harry, do you have to patrol tonight?"

"No, why?" The young professor said.

"Can I get a tour of the castle?" His cousin asked.

"Absolutely! Let me get my map."

"He has a map?" Dudley asked as Harry disappeared into his rooms.

"Don't look at me, I haven't a clue." Severus said.

"I have a secret map!" Harry called out before reappearing. Taking his wand, he touched the parchment with the tip. "I solemnly swear I am up to good." Intricate lines, words, and more started forming on the paper, and when they were finished, it revealed the castle grounds. Harry unfolded and refolded the map into another position, then pointed to three floating names. "This is how I snuck around in school, and how I've assigned nearly as many detentions as you Severus."

"I was beginning to wonder how you were catching up." The dark wizard mused.

"Each name corresponds to a person within the castle. It's how I knew Wormtail was here even though he was supposed to be dead."

Severus glared at the boy. "Prank parchment he said. A bit of parchment designed to insult people he said."

"My god I can't believe you remember that!" Harry laughed.

"Of course I remember. That was the stupidest excuse I'd ever heard you use."

"Someone fill in the new guy?" Dudley asked.

"Oh man. That's awesome. Ha... Sorry, once in third year, Sev caught me out roaming the hallways with this map. Asked me what I was doing. I put on a totally serious face and told him I was sleep-walking. Anyway, he demand to know what the paper did, told it to reveal it's secrets, and got insulted by it. Remus, my Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at the time, knew exactly what it was and saved it for me. Said it was a bit of parchment charmed to insult people." Harry explained.

"You actually told him you were sleep-walking? And expected him to believe you?" Dudley asked. Harry just nodded, a wide grin on his face.

"Anyways, let's get on with the tour. We are here. Where do you want to go first?"

"I shall leave you two to it. I _do_ have patrol duty tonight." With a smirk on his face, Severus added on a bit. "Don't let me catch you sneaking about Mr. Potter."

Harry, still grinning like an idiot, replied, "Of course not Professor Snape. Wouldn't want to have to serve a detention, now would I?" The man walked away clearly amused. "Right, where to?" Harry asked his cousin.

"Uhhhhh... You lead?" Dudley prompted.

"Okay." Harry started off with his cousin in tow. "This is the main corridor, as you can see, it leads to the Grand Staircase. Let's start with the ground floor then, yeah?"

* * *

><p>At the end of their tour, they'd wound up in the astronomy tower. "And this is- Wait shush I hear something." Heated pants rung in their ears, and a moan was heard. Harry stalked towards the sound and pointed his wand with a lumos towards the people making the sounds. He cleared his throat and the two 6th years caught in the act stared on at him sheepishly. "Miss Curshen, Miss Stibly. I believe you are aware that it is after curfew, correct?"<p>

"Yes Professor Potter." They replied together.

"And you are also aware that being caught out after curfew signifies loss of house points, am I right again?" They simply nodded. "Right then. I suppose that's 5 points from Ravenclaw and 5 points from Hufflepuff."

"Yes sir." They replied again.

"Good." He flipped his wand and summoned a pass for them. "Since I realize that others on patrol would also dock house points for your return without my presence, this is a note explaining to any prefects or teachers who might stop you that I sent you back alone. Don't try to copy the note for later use, as it conceals a secret message to those who know what to look for."

He turned back around to walk towards his cousin as the girls left, but before they got far, he called out, "And by the way, girls?" They turned to look at him. "Next time, use a silencing charm."

They scuttled off and Harry continued with the last bit of the tour. "Anyway, this is the astronomy tower. At midnight we have classes here with Professor Sinistra."

Dudley nodded, but asked, "Why did you give them advice on how to beat the teachers?"

"Because I was a student here too, and sometimes the thing you need most to pay attention in class is a good shag the night before." They both chuckled as they made their way back down to Harry's rooms.

The young professor had just dozed off into a light sleep when Dudley came into his room. "Harry, the painting says there's a prefect and another student outside your door."

Groaning, the young man slipped on an outer robe over his pajamas. He groggily made his way to the door and opened it. "Yes, what?"

The prefect was Rose, and she was guiding a first year with her. "Professor Potter, sorry to disturb you. Alice here was having horrid nightmares about... about the war, and I figured you would be the best to help her with it since you've went through your fair share." She told him.

At this moment, Harry was glad he'd told all the prefects where his rooms were, as no child, especially a first year, should have to deal with nightmares like that. "Thank you Rose. Alice, why don't you come with me to the infirmary?"

She glanced at her teacher through slightly frightened and wet eyes. "I'm not sick though."

Harry smiled. "I know. Madame Pomfrey might have some Dreamless Sleep. She used to give it to me for my nightmares... Still does sometimes actually."

She nodded and her and Harry trekked to the hospital wing. "So, you wanna talk about the nightmare?"

"Not really, but Rose told me talking helps, so I guess so." Harry motioned for her to continue, so she went on. "I was standing in the garden at the estate, my family's home, and a loud explosion came from the house. I ran in to see what happened, and Vo- Voldemort was there. He was standing over my dad's body and laughing. Then he pointed his wand at me, and everything went red for a moment. Death Eaters started filling the house, and then I saw Professor Snape. I didn't know who he was in my dream though, I only just realized... But he was wearing Death Eater robes without a mask. When Voldemort wasn't looking, Professor Snape slipped me two potions, then a port-key, and when I touched it, I woke up. I think I may have seen his picture in the Prophet at one point before I started school, otherwise I wouldn't have known about him 'cause it's a reoccurring dream."

This made Harry furrow his brow a bit, and they walked into the infirmary. "Alice, can I have your permission to bring Professor Snape here and you tell him that dream? I have a hunch about something."

"Sure, I don't see why not. If it helps, I'll tell anyone. I've been having this nightmare every week for the last two years. It's always the same."

Harry told Madame Pomfrey what the girl needed, and the Medi-Witch nodded then set off to get some dreamless sleep. "Alice... Is your father alive?"

She shook her head negatively. "No, he died four years ago."

"I'm sorry." Harry said.

She couldn't think of anything to say to that, so she simply nodded her head. Harry pulled out his map, which he had taken to bringing with him *everywhere* he went within the castle, and looked for Severus, who was currently in his own office. He used Poppy's floo to call the other professor in, and only had to wait for about a minute. Poppy was waiting off to the side for the girl to relay her dream before she gave the child that potion.

When Snape came in, his features softened a bit upon seeing the girl. Harry's hunch was getting harder and harder to disprove. "Professor Snape... Alice has shared with me a repeating nightmare, and I have a hunch about it that I wish to see whether is true or not." Severus nodded, and asked the girl to relay the plaguing dream, which she did.

When she was finished, Severus found himself sitting on the bed closest to her with an emotionless mask on his face. "I am sure you've already figured out my hunch." Harry said to the other man, who nodded blankly. "Am I right?"

The dark wizard cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes." He turned his face solemnly to the child, his features softening again and an amazing sadness present in his eyes. "You aren't supposed to remember that." He whispered.

"Remember?" She said. "I remember most of my dreams though."

"That wasn't a... a dream." Harry told her. "It was a memory, which you've apparently repressed."

"The Dark Lord had called us there to use the home as a hide-out, as it's location was promising. That first potion was a strong healing draught, and the second potion was supposed to keep you from remembering what happened. The latter obviously wasn't strong enough." He cleared his throat again.

"That... actually happened?" She asked, her eyes becoming wet again. The sad nods from the two men made her burst into tears. Severus was sure the girl would hate him now. She was one of the only Gryffindors who came to Potions class with a healthy respect for the subject and she had an amazing interest and ability in it, but he knew that now all of that would be shattered.

He was quite thrown off when the small girl hugged him. "You saved me, and my mum." She said through sobs. It was common knowledge now that He and Draco had been spies for the light, especially in the school where an announcement was made at the start of term, so Severus hadn't wondered why she didn't accuse him being a Death Eater. What he did wonder though, was why she wasn't angry with him for not being able to save her dad. "Thank you." She said, giving a good squeeze before returning to her bed.

"I fear I don't understand your actions." Severus said. "I'd assumed you would be furious with me."

She shook her head. "How could I be angry with the man who risked his life to save my own?" She wiped at the tears on her face. "Because of you, well, dream you, I studied potions for nearly a year and a half before I came here. Mum let me. She said that it would be good to devote my time to something. Now I know why I felt so strongly about the subject."

Poppy rose an eyebrow. "It seems as though every year the children keep maturing quicker."

"That's because they were raised in a war and forced to do just that." Harry commented to her.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

"Hey Sev," Harry stated as they were walking from the infirmary. "How many children have you saved like that?"

"In no way enough." The man replied lowly. Since he'd found out that the girl had remembered him even though he'd slipped her a potent memory potion, he had been grumpy. He wondered just how many other children might have similar dreams in the future, if they weren't already.

Harry nodded from that reply. There would be no use in becoming emotional from, or regretting, choices made in the past, as they could not be redone. Not without an illegal time-turner that would take the person back years at a time, but even then there's too much that might be altered.

They bid each other goodnight with a sweet kiss, and went to their separate rooms. Dudley was attempting to make a house-of-cards, and failing miserably. Harry made him go to bed, because he would be accompanying the young professor during class tomorrow. Harry had set it up with Minerva so that Dudley could come in introduced as an observer to see how Harry taught. It wasn't a lie in the least, but the wording made Professor Potter feel like he was omitting the truth from his students, something in which he hated doing.

Before Severus went off to his personal chambers, he went to check on his Slytherins. Glancing in to the girl's dorm, he gave the two fourth-years who were still awake a half-hearted glare, and sent them to bed. His trip to the boy's dorm was shorter, as they had all appeared to be asleep. He went to his rooms, took a quick shower, and made his way to bed.

The next morning, Harry awoke feeling quite refreshed without knowing why. Dudley came into his room, and heaved a sigh of obvious relief. "You look a lot better now than you did last night." He said.

Harry tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, last night when Mr. Snape carried you in, you looked ragged and even had a bit of blood on your hands. Scared the crap out of me at first, but when he explained and took you to the bathroom for a shower I felt a bit better."

"Explained? What did he say?" Harry asked, worry apparent in his features.

"You don't remember? A thing like that's hard to forget. Went something along the lines of, 'Not to worry Dudley, the blood isn't mine or his and the person who shed it will never hurt another child again.' Then you went and took a shower."

"Another child? Where did I go? Did I KILL someone?" Harry demanded, nearly frantic.

"I should hope so." Dudley told him. "I'd be angry with you if you didn't at least pummel him. When you left so suddenly, I calmed that girl down and tried to take her to the hospital room, but she wound up leading me there instead."

"What girl was it? I don't remember any of this. Did you speak with anyone else? Tell me everything you remember!" Harry asked, quickly putting his robes on and worrying badly.

"You called her Leah. She came knocking on your door and we both got up to answer it, and she was standing there crying. When you brought her in, you made me go get something for her to drink from the kitchenette, and when I came back you were hugging her whispering that everything was okay. I asked what was wrong, and you said, 'I'm going to kill that bastard.', then told me to take her to Madame Pomfrey and left.

She started crying worse when you went, and I tried to calm her down. I asked what happened, and she told me that she had been pushed up against a wall while she was trying to get to the hospital room to ask Madame Pomfrey for some dreamless sleep.

She told me she'd been almost raped by some guy named Karfen, but then that Alden kid you adopted stopped him and she ran away. Your chambers were the closest she said. Then we went to the hospital room, and the doctor gave her some potion, I guess it was the dreamless sleep, and the girl fell asleep on a bed in there. I made my way back here and then Mr. Snape carried you in."

Harry didn't say a word and he made his way to the infirmary. Sure enough Leah Stofer was sleeping in a bed there. Poppy was working on someone in another bed when they came in. "Poppy..." Harry said in a low voice.

The Medi-Witch looked up and softened her face when she saw who had come in, then schooled it back to a stern one. "Professor." She greeted. "It seems as if this student was assaulted by someone last night. He was near death when he was brought in. Wouldn't stop going on about red eyes."

"I'm sorry." Harry whispered.

"Whatever for Mr. Potter? I know for a fact that you have green eyes, Miss Stofer has blue, and Mr. Parker, who took the brunt of his abuse, has brown." She commented with a sly smile.

"Is Alden okay?" Harry asked.

"He's lying over there in the bed you'd always wound up in during your school-days. When he was carried in to my infirmary last night, I healed him first. It seems he was attacked with ice and attained a bit of frostbite, but he's almost healed now, just very tired." She informed him.

Harry walked over to 'his' bed, and pulled back the curtains the Medi-Witch had set up. Alden looked to him and smiled a bit. "Thank you." He said.

"For what?" Harry asked, a bit confused. "I'm sorry, I don't remember what happened last night." He admitted.

Alden nodded affirmative. "You rescued me. Just after that girl ran away crying you came in and Karfen flew across the room. You melted the ice that was holding my arms and legs, stopped my bleeding, made sure I was alright, then went over pinned him against the wall with your arm at his neck, then started yelling at him. I believe your exact words were, 'It's bad enough you tried to rape a child, but you fucked up when you attacked my son', then beat him senseless. Severus popped in after he'd passed out, and pulled you off of him then brought you out of it, he drug Karfen behind him, and you picked me up and carried me here, then Karfen woke up and blasted you with something and you passed out. Severus carried you back out, I guess to your rooms." A goofy grin spread across the boy's face. "Sorry, I'm not used to saying the 'f' word."

Harry let out a short laugh/snort. "Merlin, of all the things to latch on to during that recollection, you choose a swear word." He chuckled again. "I'll let you off the hook for it this time, because you were just repeating what I said." His face returned to a serious nature. "Did I hurt Severus at all last night?"

Alden shook his head negative. "Not that I saw. When he pulled you off, he whispered something to you and you went back to normal."

"Why can't I remember anything?" Harry asked, more to himself than anything else.

A deep voice from behind him stated, "Because Karfen obliviated you." Harry turned to see Severus standing there, his arms crossed and an irritated look on his face. "I leave your chambers five minutes this morning to go and get my outer robes, and when I come back Dudley says you've woken up and gone."

Instead of replying, Harry went up and hugged the man tightly. Severus returned the hug, even placing a kiss on the side of his young fiance's head. "You feel guilty about attacking that idiot." He stated.

Harry softly nodded against the man's neck. Severus grabbed his shoulders and spun him around. "Pull back your covers and show him." He ordered.

Alden nodded and slipped the sheet that was over his chest down to his waist. His chest was riddled with many cuts that seemed to be in the stages of healing. "I requested that Madame Pomfrey not heal him of all the marks on his chest until you came to see about his well being. I had a feeling you might feel bad if you didn't know the extent of suffering Karfen caused before you saved those who couldn't defend themselves properly." Severus informed the young man. "Last night, each line on the boy's chest was nearly twice as long and wide. This is why you attacked Karfen, this is why you gave the dolt what he had coming to him, and this is why you should feel no remorse or guilt."

"Does that mean she can finish healing me now?" Alden asked. "I would like to be able to move without pain."

* * *

><p>Harry had finally been convinced that he was in the right, and even Minerva had to agree with him on that cause. Karfen was expelled from the school after having a specific memory spell placed on him to not allow his recollection of his attacker. Minerva had suggested that they set up the room of requirement to allow Harry to find release so he wouldn't attack a student like that again unless he was in his right mind. It was a little known fact that the room would supply false people as well as surroundings, and Harry had agreed so his guilt couldn't take him over should he find himself attacking another person.<p>

Luckily, the talk with the headmistress only lasted until just after breakfast, so Dudley was able to watch Harry during his classes. Once everyone had settled in first thing that morning, he had 3rd year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors that period, Harry made his announcement. "Today we will have another person present." He motioned towards Dudley, who some of the children only knew as Harry's last living family thanks to that party over the summer.

"Please note that his observation is purely out of curiosity, and has nothing to do with your, or my, performance, so go on as you normally would. If anyone decides to show off for our guest, you will earn a detention. Is that clear?" Many mumbled, 'yes professor', and a few shot their hands into the air. "Yes, Miss McVoll?"

"Are we still going to be dueling today?" She asked, and four of the five hands that had shot up went down. Apparently this was on everyone's mind.

"You will. That is where my comment of showing off came in. You will be using the spells and charms that you have already learned, and are not to use anything that you might have otherwise known."

Everyone was paired off, and they began their duels, which was all too exciting for Dudley. He watched in rapt fascination as the children dodged each others jinxes, conjured things from thin air, and got knocked down one by one. As per Harry's instruction, when one was disarmed, the duel was over, and the one left with their wand would go off to the side. When everyone had finished, he paired off the remaining children against each other as well, and the trend continued until only one person was left.

"Mr. Sander, you've done admirably today. For being able to win against the rest, 10 points to Hufflepuff." Harry stated. "Since Miss Areos was second, 5 points to Gryffindor. Now, your homework for this week. I want one foot of parchment on the pros and cons of using 'Oppungo' during a duel."

The rest of his classes that day went fairly similar to the first, each class dueling within their year and each class garnering first and second place winners attaining house points. He had to dole out three detentions to one Slytherin and two Gryffindors, all for using spells which they were not supposed to know.

By the time dinner had come around, Dudley had learned a few new spells, the disarming charm and the knockback jinx, and had also learned that when Professor Potter says stop, he very well means stop-or-else-you'll-get-a-detention-with-Filch. Subsequently, he also learned that detention with Mr. Filch seemed to be something that the students hated with a passion. Somehow, he managed to separate his cousin and Professor Potter in his mind, as the two seemed to be completely different.

While one was carefree, for the most part, and ready to have fun, the other was stern, again for the most part, and didn't approve of goofing off in class. Dudley also came to the conclusion that he was quite happy to have Hermione as a teacher, as Harry seemed to take his job a bit too seriously.

That afternoon, as Harry and Severus were discussing the best day to have his, 'release', every week in the latter's chambers, a knock came to the door. Severus went to open it and found a prefect escorting Alden. "What happened?" He asked.

"Mr. Parker said that he was looking for you and Professor Potter, so I led him here." The prefect answered.

Severus nodded and took the boy in. "Are you alright?" Harry asked upon seeing the child enter.

"Oh yes, fine. I just wanted to spend some time with you is all." He answered. "I had a thought earlier, that I still don't know the names of everyone who is to be my family, and I figured you might help me with that."

Harry smiled brightly. "I think a visit to the Weasleys is in order then." He said. "They never mind what time of day I drop in, just as long as I visit, and seeing as tomorrow's the weekend, we can spend the night."

"Yes, have fun with that." Severus stated.

"Oh no you don't." Harry stated sternly. "They want you to come, and you've managed to wiggle out of it the last three times. Well, not this time mister."

"Why on earth would they want to see me?"

"Because I've been sending them owls ever since we got together, and a few of them want to apologize for their past behavior to you since you're going to be in their family once we're married." Harry informed him. "Plus, I think Ron wants to give you the, 'If you hurt my best friend' speech."

"I'm absolutely brimming with excitement." Snape replied sarcastically. "I'm not going, they can apologize through owl."

"You're coming whether you like it or not." Harry stated, putting his hands on his hips.

"I shall not be stepping foot anywhere near that home any time soon, and that's final." Snape said, his voice as commanding as he could make it.

Nearly 20 minutes later, the dark wizard found himself standing on the front doorstep of the burrow, with a triumphant looking fiance and a giggling boy.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Harry rose his hand and knocked on the door. Molly Weasley opened it, and lit up considerably. "Harry dear!" She hugged the boy tightly. After releasing him once he'd begged for air, she turned to the other man. "Severus, I'm so happy to know you've found someone... Oh, come over here!" She also, much to the man's displeasure, wrapped him in a hug. "I always did think you needed a good person in your life, and when Harry told me you were dating, I couldn't see anyone better for you. Though it did come as a bit of a shock that he was gay." She turned back to the younger man. "You should have told me. I wouldn't have allowed Ginny to bother you so much had I known you weren't interested in her."

"To be honest, I thought you wouldn't have approved." Harry admitted.

"Oh nonsense. Three of my own are gay you know." She said, then noticed the young boy with them. "And whose this? Pleasure to meet you dear, I'm Molly."

"This is Alden Parker. Sev and I adopted him recently." Harry stated.

"My goodness." She said. "It is a bit early for adoption, but as long as you're both okay with it, and raise him right, I have no qualms with it. Now come in, all of you! I'm just making supper."

"Who was it?" A voice called out from the sitting room.

"Who do you think it was?" Molly called out.

Ron came bounding from the room and saw the three who had came. "Harry!" He exclaimed, before running up and hugging the man. "I haven't seen you in ages!" He pulled back and glanced to the other two. "Hello whoever you are." He said to the child. "I'm Ron, Harry's best mate." He turned to Severus. "You and I need to have a discussion."

"We most certainly do not." The dark wizard stated.

"Fine then, I'll say it here. If you hurt Harry, you will have a team of rampaging, hot-tempered, red-headed, bloodthirsty Weasleys on your case. So don't cheat on him, don't physically assault him, and don't break his heart." By the end of his little speech, he had a finger on the other man's chest.

Severus simply raised an eyebrow. "Kindly remove your finger."

Harry laughed at the display. "Ron, it's alright. He wont hurt me."

"Good." The red-head stated. He turned back to the child. "What's your name?"

"Alden." The boy answered.

"Oh do be nicer dear." Molly called out. "He's part of the family."

Ron looked a bit confused, and Harry filled him in. When Harry had finished informing him, he saw two identical faces peering at him from in front of the fireplace.

"Fred! George!" Harry called out, and was immediately wrapped into a double hug.

"It's so nice-" George (or maybe Fred) said.

"-To see you again!" Fred (or maybe George) finished. The two released their captive and turned to Severus. "Sir, George and I would like to-"

"-Apologize for all the times-"

"-We set fire to your classroom,-"

"-And blew up your cauldrons,-"

"-And charmed your robes,-"

"-And threw dung-bombs into your office,-"

"-And rearranged your ingredients,-"

"-And broke in to your storage cabinet." George finished.

"Merlin, I'm amazed you're still alive." Alden commented.

"So are we." They answered together.

Snape crossed his arms and glared at the two, then Harry jabbed him with an elbow. Grunting, the man said, "Apology grudgingly accepted."

The twins each took one of his hands and shook them. They turned to the child. "Welcome to the family Alden, I'm George." He commented.

"And I'm Fred. Can we use him as a test subject?" He asked.

"No." Harry, Severus, Molly, and Ron all stated at once, which caused the child in question to giggle.

"You're no fun." George said.

"By the way, Ginny's coming back in about 20 minutes. Thought I'd give you a heads up" Fred told Harry.

"We were actually hoping to spend the night, so I figured we'd run across her eventually." Harry said. "Is that alright with you Mrs. Weasley?" He asked.

"Call me Molly dear, I keep telling you that. Of course it's fine. If she gets to be any trouble, I'll send her away."

"Well, Percy's out at work, so is dad." Ron stated. "When they come home, you'll get to meet them too."

"Charlie still off taming dragons?" Harry asked.

"Where else would he be." Ron said. He walked to the stairs and called up, "BILL! Harry's here, and you have a nephew!"

"Bill's here? Is Fluer with him?" The young professor asked.

"Yeah, he's visiting for a week. Fluer's off in France somewhere." Fred said.

"Did Percy knock up his girlfriend?" Bill asked as he made his way down the stairs.

"No, Harry and Snape have adopted." George informed him.

"So you were serious then, when you wrote and said you were getting married to the man?" Bill asked Harry when he'd reached the bottom landing.

"Absolutely. Wouldn't lie about a thing like that." Harry informed him. "This is Alden"

The man reached out and shook the child's hand. "Pleasure to meet you kid." He said. Turning to Severus, he smirked a bit. "Harry finally convince you to see the family?"

"Unfortunately." Severus replied.

"Well, since you're going to be part of it, I suppose I should apologize for terrorizing you for 7 years, so I apologize." He said.

"Apology accepted." Snape told him.

"Hey, why does he get no second thoughts, and with us you had to do it grudgingly?" Fred demanded.

"Because he was much less of a terror than either one of you on a good day." Severus told them.

As the group went into the kitchens, Harry had went to use the restroom, and when he came out, Ginny was coming in. "Harry!" She called. "Did you finally come to your senses and leave that bat so we could get married?"

"No Ginerva. Severus and I are engaged, and we are visiting the family with our son." Harry stated.

"You don't have a son." She stated, her hands on her hips. "I don't believe you. I think that you're just-"

"Miss Weasley." Severus stated from the doorway that led to the kitchen. Most of the present Weasleys had gathered behind him to see what would happen.

"You greasy old bat, you've muddled his mind, he thinks he's in love with you. You're nothing but a cradle-robbing thief, stealing what's mine."

Alden stepped out from behind the man. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't call my father names."

"I don't know what you're playing at kid, but do be a good little boy and go back wherever you came from. Harry is going to marry me, and you've not got a place in my family." She stated.

Molly forced her way through, and promptly smacked Ginny across the face. "You will not speak to them like that Ginerva Weasley. Severus and Alden are as much a part of this family as everyone else here. If you wish to continue staying in this house, change your attitude."

"Mother, how could you?" She asked, then turned to Harry. "And you, how could you choose this... this... THING over me?"

"Aside from the fact that I'm gay, you make that rather easy." Harry said, leveling a glare at her, then stalking over to Severus and Alden, wrapping an arm around them both. "And he is not a, 'thing'. His name is Severus Snape, he is my fiance, my partner, and the man I happen to love with all my heart."

Red lines were beginning to faintly appear in Harry's eyes, and Snape did NOT want him to lose it here, so he quickly whispered to his fiance, "Calm down, they're going red."

Harry nodded, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Ginny, who didn't seem to know when to shut up, went on. "When we marry, you're going to get rid of that boy and that thing, and never speak to them again." She started angrily towards the boy, but when the twins had stepped in front of Alden she changed direction and very nearly smacked Severus across the face. Harry caught her by the wrist in a move that was barely noticeable, and held on with a vice-like grip. "Harry, let go, you're hurting me!" She squeaked, and he released her.

"Ginerva Weasley, you leave this house at once!" Molly demanded. "I will not have you treating them like this."

"Mummy!" She cried. "You can't be serious!"

"Listen to your mother." Arthur said from the fireplace.

"Daddy! Talk sense in to mummy." Ginny said with tearful eyes.

"I don't know what's going here, but since everyone is glaring daggers at you, Ron looks like he's about to throttle you, Fred and George are standing defensively in front of a child, and Molly demands you to leave, I can only assume that you've done something to deserve it." Arthur told her.

"You can't make me leave, I'm part of the family. Besides, Harry loves me, and he wont let you." She said, crossing her arms.

"You have caused this family much distress when your infatuation with Harry went into obsessive terms, and even more when he informed us of his relationship with Severus. If you can't shape up, then you can most certainly ship out. I've not wanted it to come to this, but I will remove you forcefully if I have to." Arthur said sternly.

"You wouldn't dare." Ginny challenged.

At that, Arthur used his wand, levitated the girl, took a handful of floo powder, called out for the safe-house his family had used for generations, and pushed her into the fire. He turned back to his stunned family and asked, "Right, so whose this then?"

Harry smiled at the man. "This is Alden, Severus and I adopted him."

"Ahh, apologies for your first family visit going so wrong then." Arthur said, shaking the boy's hand.

"It wasn't that bad actually. They warned me about her, I just didn't think she would act like that with Severus around." He stated, shaking the man's hand back.

"Speaking of Severus." Arthur turned to the normally emotionless man. "What on earth do I refer to you as? Son would be a bit strange, considering all the work we've done together within the order and your age and all."

Severus smirked. "Yes, that would be quite uncomfortable for myself as well, and I have absolutely no intention of referring to you as, 'dad'. First names should be acceptable."

"Right then, Severus it is." Arthur said, smiling a bit.

"Dinner's almost ready." Molly informed them. "Fred, go and get two extra chairs, George, set the table, Ron, clean up your mess in the living room, and Harry, show those two around the burrow. Arthur, they're staying the night, just to let you know. And boys?" She placed her hands on Harry and Severus' shoulders. In a low whisper, she said, "I would appreciate it if you didn't forget a silencing charm if you do anything tonight." She gave them a wink and went back to the stove.

Severus actually blushed and Harry laughed. "I can't believe she said that." Snape stated.

"Get used to it, she'll remind you every time you come for the night. Seems once Bill had an incident where Molly thought he was hurt and walked in on him and Fluer."

"Just tell the world why don't you." Bill grumbled.

"By the way, I'm doing food and decorations for your wedding. Just thought I'd let you know." She called from the kitchen.

"I wouldn't dream of having anyone else do it." Harry called back.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

"Alright, let's see if I can remember." Alden said. He, Harry, Severus, and the Weasleys, minus dragon tamer and loony sister, were all sitting in the living room. "There's no use in guessing you Mrs. Molly, you're the only lady here. You, are Ron." He said pointing to the youngest Weasley boy.

"Right!" Ron cheered, then handed him a chocolate frog.

"You're Arthur." He said, pointing to the eldest male present.

"Righto." Arthur commented.

"You are either Fred or George, but I think you're Fred." He said pointing to one of the twins.

"He's not Fred, I'm Fred." George stated.

"Honestly man, and you call yourself our nephew." Fred stated.

Alden stared on at them, then shook his head smiling. "No, I was right. Harry already told me that story about you pretending to be each other that time at King's Cross."

"Spoilsport." The twins stated together.

"You, well I know your name isn't Bob... I think you're Bill." He said, pointing towards the eldest Weasley brother.

"Right again, kid." The young man said.

"And you, I think you're name is Parson. No wait, that's not right, it's Percy!"

The young man in question nodded. "Right the second time."

A round of congratulations and passing each other sweets came about, then Harry called their attention. He explained to them that he wouldn't be present around Christmas until it's eve as he had business to attend to. Most of the Weasleys had known Harry long enough to know that when he didn't wish to go into details, he wouldn't, and it would simply not benefit them to pry, so they let it go and informed him that wherever he was going, he'd better be safe, under the condition that the trio visit them Christmas Eve as well for dinner.

The next day was spent with the twins telling Alden all about the pranks they pulled during their Hogwarts days, and told him that considering he was family thanks to Harry, he got what he wanted from their store at a 90% discount. Severus thought this idea was absolutely horrid, and feared for his manor's ability to continue standing.

After they'd returned to Hogwarts, Harry had set to putting away all of the food Molly had sent them back with. Dudley had been sent back to the manor the day before, and Harry found that thanks to his cousin being present for the past week, plus the visit to the Weasleys, he preferred to be in the company of other people rather than alone. Walking in to Severus office, which for some reason didn't seem to surprise the man, Harry went up and stated, "I'm bored."

Raising an eyebrow at his fiance, Snape suggested, "Why not take on an extra patrol? That always clears my boredom, plenty of students to catch out breaking curfew and the ability to deduct points from anyone without a prefect badge."

Harry shook his head. "I don't mean bored like that, I mean with life. I have nothing to do for almost two months besides teach. I want to fill my days with things to do so I will never have a chance to become bored again."

"Get a hobby." Severus said.

"That's exactly what I was thinking, and why I'm here. I figured since you used your spare time to tutor students in potions, I would use mine to tutor them in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry informed the man.

"Which has what to do with me?" He was almost afraid to ask.

"I've no idea how to go about setting something like that up, and no clue who I would take on." Harry informed him, taking a seat in the chair across his desk.

"Get out a quill and parchment, you'll need to take notes." Severus told him. After Harry has poised his hand at the ready, the older wizard started the lesson on lessons.

"First, make a schedule. Outline the days in which you plan on holding tutoring sessions. Do not assign a session for every day or you will find yourself cursing the very existence of anything within reach. Leave at least four days a week for other things, such as important meetings at the Ministry, time with others, and for yourself. Always leave Thursdays open, as those are staff meeting days for whenever Minerva gets the bright idea to hold one. It's easiest to plan for a month at a time, and to plan out the next month within the last week of the current month. Second-"

"All of that was just the first task?" Harry asked.

"Indeed. Tutoring is quite a complex activity. Are you sure you still wish to do so?"

"Absolutely. I want to help, and I need something to do."

"Good. Second, make four copies of your schedule so you have five total. Keep four of them for yourself, and give one to Minerva to look over. Enchant the copies you've kept for yourself to automatically add any information which you write upon them to the others. Keep one in your office, one in your classroom, one on your person, and one in your personal chambers."

"Right, I get the part about keeping them everywhere but my rooms. Why do I need one in my rooms?" He asked.

"In case you lose one of the other copies, or any of the children decide to play thief." When Harry nodded, he went on... and on... and on. When he was finished, Harry had front and back of two bits of parchment covered in tips and tricks for tutoring the children.

"So is this what you had to do when Dumbledore asked you to teach me occlumency?" Harry asked as he was leaving.

"Yes."

That was the only reply he attained, and the only one he needed. Harry made his way back to his own office, where he set in to make a schedule, but found himself unable to concentrate, as his mind was centered around the occlumency lessons, and how he could have done a much better job at it than he had. Granted, Snape could have done better as well, but Harry was just as much to blame for his failure. He started drifting towards the thought of legilimency when a knock came to his door. "Enter."

The child opened the door, "Professor Potter, I-" he fell backwards as memories of his life started flashing in his mind and what seemed like some sort of physical force was pushing against him.

As soon as the boy entered the room, Harry was seemingly sucked in to his visitor's mind and watched as vision after vision of the child's life flew by him. In a fierce show of will against himself, Harry pulled himself from the mind of the boy, who was now staring wide eyed at him from the floor. "What did you do?" The child asked between panting breaths.

"I... I think I just accidentally invaded your mind." Harry stated, stunned of his own actions and wondering why that just happened. "I apologize, I've no idea why that happened."

"You invaded my mind? Even my THOUGHTS aren't safe anymore?" The boy angrily demanded as he picked himself up from the floor.

"No, your thoughts are perfectly safe. It was an accident, and everything went by so fast I couldn't recall anything I'd seen if it were demanded of me." Harry tried to tell the boy, though it was an outright lie. Although the memories did in fact fly by, they sorted themselves in Harry's mind, and could be picked and chosen for later viewing.

"Alright, apology accepted." The child said, dusting off his robe.

He then asked his professor the question that had been plaguing him, something about his homework, and once he'd received an answer, Harry stalked straight to Severus' office again. Barging in to the room, he slammed the door, warded it shut, and threw up a silencing charm. "Something has happened."

"So I gather." Snape said.

"A student just came in my office, and as soon as our eyes locked, I invaded his mind accidentally, and memories started flying by at what seemed like super speed. There wasn't enough time to actually view the memories, but they're kind of stored away right now, and I can pick and view them at any time." Harry explained.

"That certainly explains a few things." Severus said, interlacing his fingers.

"What do you mean? I've not done this before."

"Not about you, about the Dark Lord. It would only take him seconds to invade our minds, but he seemed to be able to identify certain things about us within minutes of the act." Snape explained.

"So this is another thing I picked up from him. Great." The younger man grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "But that doesn't explained why it happened so suddenly."

"Actually, that should be rather self-explanatory." At the confused look he attained, Severus went on. "When you left here, we had just spoken about occlumency. Knowing you, you would have continued to think about it, and logic dictates that when thinking of occlumency, one would, by default, think of legilimency as well. As you're still coming up with bits and pieces here and there of the Dark Lord's powers, you are prone to a bout of accidental magic, and what just transpired would fall into that category."

"Sometimes you annoy me with how you seem to know everything." Harry stated quite seriously.

"I don't know everything. I simply piece bits together and put them into a logical sequence."

"Yes, well not all of us can think like a computer as you apparently can, we're not all born brilliant."

"A computer? Never mind, obviously some muggle device. Thinking along these lines takes years of practice, it is not simply something one is born with. Though many Ravenclaws who enter into the school seem to have been born knowing how to process information like so, it is something that was either conditioned into them by their guardians, or they taught themselves to do."

"Right... So what do we do about this? If every time I think about legilimency near someone who's not at least decent in occlumency causes me to inadvertently invade their mind, then I'll forever be swamped in memories that aren't my own."

"Use occlumency." Severus told him. Again receiving a muddled look, he rolled his eyes. "It can be used to block others out, but it can also be used to keep yourself in."

"That's wonderful!" Harry stated. "But I've had my shields up for ages, and I restore them daily, so they should be strong already."

Snape shook his head. "You have to focus the intent. Create a new set of shields behind your current ones, and intend for them to keep you within yourself so you don't go accosting people's minds. While we're on the subject of your powers, I've not felt a thing through the mark in months. I assume all is going well with that?"

Harry nodded. "I'm pretty good at keeping my emotions at bay, and when I can't help but become emotional, I just redirect all intent to Bellatrix since I think she's still alive."

"She must be providing quite the show for the guards in Azkaban." Severus mused.

* * *

><p>Harry had been making quite a bit of progress in taking control of his abilities. Still, every now and then new things popped up from his taking on the power of Voldemort, for instance himself and his immediate family (Severus, Dudley, Draco, and Alden) now knew he had virtually no use for the wand he'd bought as a replacement when Voldy broke his, as his ability for wandless magic sky-rocketed. On the other hand, his affinity for wordless magic had become considerably lower, and only seemed to work on the very basic spells, found in the first years' texts.<p>

His inadvertent mind invasion had lessened quite a bit as well, thanks to Severus' help, and now when he accidentally wound up in someone's memories, at least they didn't feel it. He'd learned quite a bit about his students and colleagues thanks to the sort of filing system their memories ordered themselves in.

Today there was a, quite accidental, discovery in which Harry found himself with the completely useless ability to float, but could only move in that position from an outside force. He had spent the majority of his time being suspended in mid-air within his office, waiting for someone to come and find him to bring him down from his position, as he was too far from any of the furniture to grab on to and hoist himself down.

Oh he could flail his arms and legs about, no doubt there, and could even spin - slowly - in the air, but his body would make no movements to propel in any direction of his own will. His stomach had just started rumbling when the door to his office opened, and in walked his fiance. "What are you doing up there?" He asked.

"I jumped up when I was walking to my door as a rat ran by me, and I've been stuck here ever since." Harry informed him, crossing his arms over his chest as he spun slowly. "Apparently, when both of my feet leave the ground, I float."

"Well come down from there, dinner's almost over." Severus ordered.

"Don't you think I've tried?" Harry asked shortly. He moved his arms and legs about as if trying to swim through the air. "Nothing I do works!"

Severus was trying very hard not to allow the smile and laughter he felt bubbling up in his chest to appear. "Why didn't you send a patronus message?" He asked, sitting down in the room's chair just out of reach and completely ignoring Harry's movements to reach out to him in an attempt to hoist himself downward.

"I didn't think to." Harry admitted. "Get up and help me down!"

Snape allowed a tame smile to cross his lips. "Aren't you the one who suggested we study and document each and every new power you came across? It would hardly comply with your wishes should we not take this opportunity."

"You bastard!" Harry squeaked. "If you don't help me down right this second, no sex for a week!"

"Hmmm, how unfortunate for you that I can contain myself for years at a time then." Severus commented, his grin deepening. "Alright, I'll help you down... under one condition."

Harry, who was now upside down thanks to the spinning, crossed his arms over his chest again, and leveled a glare at his lover. "What?"

"You fulfill one of my more... interesting fantasies." Severus commented, interlacing his fingers together. "You see, I've always wanted to have sex in the air, and while I've been able to wandlessly levitate myself, I've not had the ability to do so to anyone else simultaneously. Your current _position_ would allow that."

Harry grudgingly complied, and Severus smirked, happy with the turn of events. He levitated himself, and Harry squeaked again, "You mean right now? What about locking the doors?"

"Yes now. It's a Hogsmeade weekend, and only two students have been left behind since Monday starts the Christmas holidays. Both not out buying their families gifts are Ravenclaws, so they're more than likely off studying somewhere." He, thanks to his spell, propelled himself forward to Harry, wrapping the young man in his arms and taking an earlobe into his mouth and cupping his hand around his lover's manhood.

"What if one of the other professors walks in and catches us?" Harry asked, his heart beating fiercely at the prospect.

"Let them." Severus growled into his ear. He felt the unmistakable hardening of Harry's erection and heard the man's breathing become slightly erratic. "Does that turn you on? To think we might be caught in such a position, you being taken in your own office?" He asked, trailing his tongue down the other man's neck while his hand busied itself stroking the young man's length.

Harry merely groaned a bit as he pushed back onto the man behind him, the tingling sense of the air hitting his skin as he realized his clothing had been spelled off. Feeling a mixture of the smooth fabric and bit of skin behind him, he noticed that the other man had kept his clothes, but had released his own throbbing member, which was now pressed onto Harry's arse.

At some point during mid-buggering, they heard a knocking and a voice calling out for Harry. Severus wrapped his hand around his lover's mouth to stop any sound, but continued his thrusting, not seeming to care about who may or may not be there. When they heard the person announce they were coming in and the door handle jingle a bit, Harry let out a muffled moan as he came fiercely, clenching around his lover tightly, bringing the older man over the edge as well. As Severus came, his levitation spell ended, sending him to the floor, and thanks to his hold on Harry, the young man went as well.

"Really you two." Hermione's voice rang out as she closed the door and turned around to glare at them. "Sex in the middle of your office? What if I had been a student!" She chastised, clearly not fazed by the sight of a naked Harry who had their resident potions master buried hilt deep into him. "Get dressed!" She ordered, then turned around, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Severus was bored. It was Monday, the first day of the Christmas holidays, and Harry was off conversing with a werewolf, would be for the next week and a half. When Hermione had caught them in the act yesterday, Severus couldn't help but feel slightly smug as the young man averted his eyes from the woman sheepishly.

But today, all of his smugness had worn off. He'd realized today when he went to the Great Hall for breakfast that Harry would be gone for 10 whole days. Since they'd gotten together, they'd barely spent a day without one another, and the dark man was dreading the coming June. If he felt this much anticipation after one day apart, knowing only 10 days would be separating them, how the hell would he be expected to last a year without his young lover?

Alden roused him from his thoughts, as he came into Severus' chambers with a wide smile plastered on his face. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"For what?" The man inquired, slightly confused.

"The manor! We're going to the manor today to stay with Draco and Dudley for the hols. I've never been in a manor before, the last few times you went you didn't take me. Is it big? Of course it is, you said yourself there were 10 bedrooms, I wonder if there's any secret rooms or com-"

Severus silenced him with a hand on the child's shoulder. "Calm yourself Alden. Yes, I am ready, let us go."

They took the floo directly to the manor from Minerva's office. Once they'd entered the Manor, Alden barely had a chance to glance around before a knocking came to the front door. Severus went to go answer it, as Draco and Dudley seemed to be wrapped up in some muggle movie, and Alden followed closely behind.

When Severus opened the door, he revealed a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. He groaned a bit. "Come in Lorraine." The woman nodded, and waited for the door to close behind her. "What is it?" The man asked.

"It's nice to see you as well Dr. Snape." She said, amusement lacing her voice.

"Doctor?" Alden asked.

"She calls me doctor when there are muggles around." Severus told him, then turned to the woman. "He's a wizard Lorraine, you needn't refer to me as such."

"Right then, sorry about that. I'm glad I caught you in." She stated as they made their way to the kitchen, where Severus prepared a pot of tea for everyone. "You remember little Mary, right?" She asked.

"Of course I remember her, it's hard to forget someone Harry and I spent days searching for a home for." He commented. Alden tilted his head, considerably confused.

"Right, well, it seems there's another case like her. Accidental magic, family can't handle her, at least this one's not been isolated or neglected by her family, they just don't know what to do with her. Her mum wont sign over guardianship, and doesn't want to abandon her, she just thinks there's some sort of possession over the child and wants someone else to figure out if it's the devil or not. Hmph. Muggles."

"And you thought I would talk sense into the woman?" Severus asked, setting out five cups.

"Yes. I hadn't told her about the wizarding world, figured I'd leave that up to someone who could obliviate her if need be." At the grunt of approval she received, her attention turned to the child. "And whose this?"

The boy seemed to suddenly become shy, and Severus snorted in amusement at the child's obviously readable features. "This is Alden. Harry and I adopted him recently. Alden, this is Lorraine, she helps me every summer with my side-practice. I'll fill you in on that later, as you'll be helping me this summer as well."

"Pleasure to meet you Alden." The woman smiled. "Speaking of Harry, where is the delightful young man?"

"Off meeting with someone on business. He'll be back come Christmas Eve." Severus informed her.

She nodded, and returned her eyes to the young boy, who blushed at her and ducked his head a bit. Finally he spoke. "Uhm, why can't you obliviate that lady?"

"I'm a squib deary. No magic here, as good as a muggle." She replied, not at all sad about the lack of magic.

"Have you been tested to be sure?" Alden asked, recalling being told about Dudley who was borderline squib/wizard.

The woman shot a confused look towards Severus. "I thought he didn't know about your practice Snape."

"He doesn't." Severus informed her, with his own confused look.

"I'm not sure what either of you are talking about, but I'm talking about whatever you did to Dudley to see if he was a squib or borderline squib." Alden told them.

Severus' eyes lit up as he remembered the family tree book. "Ah, Lorraine, could I partake of a bit of your blood?" He asked.

"You haven't been turned by a vampire, have you?" The woman asked suspiciously.

Chuckling, Severus shook his head. "No, I simply want to make a small magical family tree for you. With a bit of parchment, the right spell, and a bit of your blood, we can see if you truly are a squib, or a borderline squib as Harry's cousin turned out to be."

"Alright then, but if my blood finds its way anywhere near your mouth, this teacup's going to find its way to your head." She stated, holding out her hand.

"Alden, grab a piece of parchment for me would you? Should be some in the top drawer of the desk in the hallway between the room we just entered and this one." Severus asked. The boy disappeared, resurfacing less than a minute later with the requested item, and sat to watch in fascination at what was happening.

Severus muttered an incantation over the parchment, which glowed a faint red, then transfigured a match - taken from a drawer in the kitchen - into a needle, pricked the woman's middle finger, and spilled three drops of the woman's blood onto the paper, which acted as a sponge and soaked it up. The child watched in silence as lines started appearing on the paper.

"I'll be damned." Severus stated. "Look here, you've a relation to the Blacks. Well, it seems every family has a relation to the Blacks anymore."

"What of my status Snape?" She asked.

"Oh, squib all the way, borderlines are very rare." He commented offhandedly, still studying the parchment. "Merlin, you've also a relation to Mrs. Trif down the way."

"You're kidding." She said, her eyes widening a fraction. "That old biddy? She's loony."

"I'm not kidding, and you're absolutely correct, she's as sane as squirrel hopped up on coffee." He stated.

Alden giggled at the thought of an old woman hoarding nuts and berries while drinking coffee and shaking from all the caffeine. Apparently the movie had finished, as Dudley and Draco had come into the room and taken cups of tea that were prepared for them. "Harry's already left then? Hello Lorraine, Alden." Draco said, sipping his drink.

Severus nodded in affirmation, Lorraine nodded in greeting, and Alden smiled at the young man. Severus suddenly remembered, he had something to wrap up for Filius this Christmas, and excused himself to his rooms to do so. It was only a matter of minutes, and he had his personal owl, simply named, 'Owl', delivering a small package wrapped in brown paper with a note attached that said not to open it in the presence of others, as its contents were of a personal nature.

He came back out, and Lorraine accosted him in the hallway. "When are you going to go talk to the girls' parents?" She demanded.

"Tomorrow morning, it's far too late tonight." Severus told her. "We need to go shopping tomorrow as well, only 12 days until Christmas." He stated as he entered the kitchen again.

"Oh, does that mean you'll give Harry a bird and a tree?" Dudley asked, smirking a bit. Lorraine laughed at the statement, and Severus snorted bemusedly. Draco and Alden stared on unsure of what the joke was, but knowing there had to be a joke somewhere in there.

Noticing the look on their faces, Lorraine said, "It's a muggle song, the 12 days of Christmas."

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree." Dudley sang horribly flat, which again caused laughter within the room.

"Right, well I suppose I should head off. Roger isn't going to be too happy that I've stayed out this late without telling him beforehand, but he'll get over it. Goodbye for now." She said, as she made her way from the manor.

"Dudley, I think sometimes that you may be brilliant in your own way." Severus stated.

"Thank you sir." The young man said, quite taken aback by the compliment. "But why do you say that?"

Severus grinned. "You've implanted the idea of giving Harry 12 gifts for every day from now until Christmas. He will undoubtedly open 11 of them on Christmas Eve, but the best shall be saved for the day itself." He informed his lover's cousin.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

That night, Filius Flitwick opened the first wrapped gift he had ever received from Severus Snape. His heart was pounding, as the note had told him to open it in private, and he could almost bring himself to fear the potions master's sense of humor, which everyone had thought had been nonexistent before Harry came along. Since said humor was so undocumented, who's to say his gifts might not be dangerous?

Filius pointed his wand at the box across his room, and used several charms to remove it of it's twine string and brown paper. Lifting the box lid, he waited, and nothing exploded, so he inched closer to the whatever-it-is. Peering into the box, he found a letter and a suede bag. Using the tip of his wand, he lifted the bag from the box and placed it on his desk, then went to read the letter.

_**F**_

_**As you know, H and I adopted recently. We came to the conclusion that with a child present, we should not partake of certain... delights. Inside you will find one of those delights.**_

_**Do not misunderstand this gift as a gesture of 'niceties', or some such nonsense. It is simply something I did not wish to waste as it cost a good 20 galleons, and considering how you're always bugging me for some under the guise of creating your own medical potions - yes I am aware what you do with it - I had assumed this gift would be best placed in your hands.**_

_**If you dare sing at me your thanks again, I shall never give you another thing as long as either of us live.**_

_**~S**_

Filius was quite shocked that Severus was actually giving him a gift, and more than confused on what the actual gift could be. Oh he had an idea, but he wasn't so sure, as the potions master had always seemed to be annoyed with his bugging. He opened the bag and glanced inside. His face lit up, and he inhaled the pungent aroma quite happily. Thank goodness he was at his own home, and it was the Christmas holidays! He could quite enjoy this.

Okay, so Severus broke 'Unspoken Christmas Rule Number One', and informed him of the price, and a few other of said unspoken rules by insinuating that it was a last minute thing, nothing a lot of thought went in to, and made a demand upon the giving of the gift that he wished no sung thanks, but Filius could overlook that.

After he partook of some of his gifted delights, Filius got the bright idea to send a letter of thanks back, so he nearly danced over to his desk, began singing Christmas carols, and started it.

The next morning, Severus was the first one up in the manor. Making some coffee, an owl tapping his window called his attention. He took the letter from the owl, then motioned the bird away. After checking it for hexes, jinxes, spells, and the like, he opened it and read.

_**S**_

_**Thank you for the gift! I promise I will not sing at you in thanks, but know I'm singing as I write this, and probably will be for the next few days. In a sea of grey, your green gift has brought a cloud of pink to my blue life. (Poetic prose doesn't count as singing, does it?)**_

_**~F**_

Severus snorted at the absurdity of the tiny man believing that a sentence about colors constituted poetic prose. Shaking his head, he burned the letter, secretly glad that he'd made the other man happy, as it was widely known among the staff that the charms professor had no close family to share the holidays with, and he was almost always as bitter as the potions master used to be on this particular holiday. Oh, he never showed it during school, but Severus once had the displeasure of dealing with a sad and angry Flitwick in the middle of Diagon Alley near Christmas.

It was just now that Severus realized the meaning of the 'gift of giving' idiom, that absurd phrase that Albus always tried to instill into him. He decided to get a few of the other professors some things on their shopping trip today as well.

* * *

><p>"You're not seriously getting him <em>that<em>, are you?" Severus asked, eying the small figurine Draco was holding.

"So what if I am, what's wrong with that?" The blond asked. "He obviously likes them, or he wouldn't work with them."

Severus shook his head. "One, it shows very little forethought. Two, it shows that you can't get past what he does for a living. Three, people go home to get away from work. Giving him a representation of his work to fill his home is not the brightest of ideas. It would be like giving me a student figurine."

Draco wriggles his nose, but understood what the man was saying. Placing the small dragon figurine back onto it's shelf, he stated, "I don't know him well enough to know what else he likes though."

"We ARE on Diagon Alley. Why not just go ask the twins?" Severus offered.

Draco's features lit up. "Brilliant! Let's go then."

Rolling his eyes, Snape said, "You're quite capable of taking care of yourself across the way whilst I finish shopping."

"I didn't think of that. I'm a bit used to being told I cant go anywhere without some sort of chaperone or another."

"You are an adult, not to mention a Lord, I think you're quite capable of looking after yourself for less than a half hour." Severus said, examining a small statue of a snake, then tsking as he found several flaws on it's carved scales and two impurities in it's gemstone eyes. "I can't believe they expect to sell this tripe for 10 galleons."

"Right, I'll be off then. See you at the Wizarding Wheezes." Draco said.

"I shan't be stepping foot in that store. You'll meet me outside of it in 30 minutes exactly." Severus said, continuing his browsing. Draco ran off yelling some sort of affirmative statement.

"Severus?" Alden asked, coming up to the man's side. "What kind of things do you and Harry and Dudley and Draco and the Weasleys like?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "You've no need to buy for me. Harry appreciates anything really, as long as thought was put into it. Dudley likes several of the wizarding candies, but he's informed me of late that he's on a diet, trying to lose weight. Seems he's under the assumption that it would be embarrassing for Harry's 'last living family' to be overweight. Couldn't be farther from the truth actually, Harry doesn't give a flying f-... errm, doesn't care about his cousin's weight, must be some muggle image thing.

I know for a fact though that he finds magical creatures fascinating, so that should help. Draco would like anything shiny that looks expensive, even if it wasn't. As for the Weasleys, they all have varying tastes, you would do well to visit the twins' joke shop once we leave here and ask them."

Alden nodded and smiled his thanks, then continued his browsing. Dudley came up to the man. "Hey, I heard my name."

_Merlin, can't a man shop in peace? _Severus thought. "Yes, Alden and I were just discussing what he could get for you."

"Aww he doesn't have to get me anything." Dudley said, smiling a bit at the thought of being given gifts that were actually thought out instead of random things that he really had no use for to simply fill up numbers, as his parents were prone to do.

Severus arched an eyebrow at the young man, who promptly turned and continued his own shopping. Nearly 25 minutes later, they had all bought at least two things from the store, had the items shrunk down in their respective pockets thanks to Severus and his shrinking charm, made their way to the joke shop where Draco was already waiting on them, and Alden disappeared into for a good 20 minutes.

"Did they have any ideas?" Severus asked the young blond.

"Oh yeah, found out he has a certain affinity for souvenirs from countries he hasn't visited yet. Seems he's yet to go to Canada, so I plan on getting him something from there."

Alden returned with a parchment that listed his gift ideas for all of the Weasleys, thanks to the twins. The foursome continued their day shopping, stopping for both breakfast and lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Around about four pm, they had collectively, minus Draco, spent 408 galleons, 11 sickles, and 22 knuts. Alden and Dudley were completely unused to spending so much, and fretted over Severus' mood after having realized he'd spent that much, but he showed absolutely no change in demeanor.

Draco suggested they go out for dinner, might as well make a whole day out of it, and Dudley said they didn't have to as they'd spent to much money already. Severus scoffed at them. "It doesn't matter how much we've spent, when will you two realize that? My personal 'frivolous vault' has barely had a dent placed in it from today's spending spree. Stop worrying so much."

"You're really sure you don't mind?" Dudley asked.

"If I weren't sure, I wouldn't have said anything. As I've said before, I have enough money in the Prince vaults to last us all several lifetimes, and that includes Christmas, birthdays, and other various gift-giving holidays. As long as I don't have to pay Draco's way that is." He turned to the blond. "Your spending 300 galleons of your own money was exactly why I was only too happy to give you the letter stating your Lordship status."

"Yes, well at least I have good taste." The young man said, smirking.

"Severus, I don't understand something." Alden said. Severus and Harry had convinced him that when he didn't understand something, or if he had a question about 'why' something was, that he should ask so it may be explained, as there was absolutely no shame in asking.

"Hmm?"

"If Harry is only going to visit that man, why is he staying there for a week and a half?"

"Ah, the first three days he is spending getting introduced around to all in the clan. He will need nearly that many days to memorize the names of everyone there. The week after is going to be spent living amongst them in a sort of 'trial run' for two reasons. One, to see if he can actually make it out there for any period of time rather than a simple night, and two, to give him a chance to back out should the training not go as planned." Severus explained.

"So he's getting trained there now?" Alden asked curiously.

"In a way, sort of. They are beginning his training the day after tomorrow, but the main lesson they shall be focusing on is patience. If he is able to withstand 6 months of absolutely no training from anyone besides himself, then he will have passed the test, so to speak. This means no dueling with anyone, any practical duels held for the class will have to be taken over by someone else. He may, however, practice on a target."

Alden nodded his head and Dudley felt almost sorry for the students missing out on the magnificent way Harry duels. Draco simply didn't seem to care either way about it. Then again, at the moment, the blond didn't seem to care about anything, even where he was going, as he had just stepped right in to a mud puddle and kept walking without even a glance. Surely had he been paying attention, he would have screamed when he noticed his shoe becoming soiled. Severus simply whispered a quick cleaning spell, pointing his wand at the young man's shoe.

"Draco." Severus called. No answer. He put his hand on the young man's shoulder, who jumped a bit at the contact. "What has you so preoccupied?"

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about Charlie and wondering what he thinks of me. Probably thinks I'm a prat, as far as I know, he was never made aware that I was a spy for the light." Draco commented almost sadly.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

It was the 23rd of December, and Snape had been going to Diagon Alley every day to gather a gift for Harry upon his return the next day. He had finished wrapping his 10th gift when Alden came bounding into the room. "Severus, there's someone in the floo for you."

Severus nodded and went to the sitting room, where a face was present in the green fire, a face that he hadn't seen before. "What can I do for you?" He asked.

"Ahh you must be Severus Snape." The face said. "Yes, well, Kione wanted you and yours to come visit, said it would calm some of your fears about his safety."

"Kione? I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that name." He told the face.

"Oh right, I'd forgotten he doesn't go by that there. My apologies. Harry Potter wanted you to come visit."

"Harry? Are you Macoval?" Severus asked.

"Correct." The face said. "He'd requested you bring a Draco, Dudley, Alden, and Teddy with you as well."

"May I speak with him?" Severus asked, not sure whether or not he believed the man.

"My apologies, he is not here right now. I am using the fireplace at some inn called 'The Cauldron', or some such nonsense." A voice chattered behind him. "Right, 'The Leaky Cauldron'. Whatever. We've not got many means of communication at the clan's territory, and he decided not to come in favor of helping one of our nursing females. He did tell me that should you not believe me, to simply tell you, 'Shimmering Fur', and you would understand."

"That does sound like something he would do." Severus sighed. "Alright then, we'll meet you where you are. It shall take a little while to round up Teddy, he's not here."

"Righto then." Macoval said, popping his head from the fireplace.

Severus shook his head at the absurdity of it all. For a werewolf clan's Alpha, this Macoval character was a real... well, character. After flooing to Andromeda's house, he explained the situation to the woman and went back to his manor, where he gathered up the other three. They made their way to the Leaky Cauldron.

Many of the patrons stopped eating and chattering when they saw Severus Snape walk through the fireplace carrying a toddler on his hip. Macoval gave a strange look over the people, and Severus snapped, "What are you staring at? Never seen a man carrying a child before?" The people immediately went back to what they were doing.

"Well then, off to our territory. Kione gave me some paper with numbers on it, said they were coordinates and you lot would know what to do with them. Something about apparation."

Severus nodded. "I shall take Teddy and Macoval, Draco, you will take Dudley and Alden." He memorized the numbers, handed the paper to Draco, who did the same, then they all apparated into the middle of a field.

"That was very fast." Macoval commented. "And quite sickening, I'll not be doing that again any time soon. This way." He called, walking ahead of them.

Nearly half an hour later, they found themselves in what appeared to be a small village, with bare houses, nearly no modern luxuries, and lots of people. Walking into one of the houses, the group found Harry speaking with a woman about herbs.

Glancing back, Harry's eyes lit up when he saw his family. He excused himself, then ran up to Severus, wrapping the man in a hug and a kiss. "I'm glad you came." He said finally.

"Of course I came, you requested it." Severus replied, stroking his young fiance's chin. "Andromeda had some worries about Teddy. Apparently, his hair has been seen sporting the exact color of Moony's fur."

"Moony, your werewolf friend?" Macoval asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes, Teddy is his son. He's shown no indication that he might carry the werewolf gene or not, his mother was a witch though."

"No, you would know. His first full moon he would have transformed." Macoval informed them. "Then again, I've never seen a werewolf and a human mate before. It's possible he may."

Teddy, who had just woken up, saw Harry and reached his arms out. "Weeee!" He called out, grasping his hands.

Harry chuckled and took the child, "Yes Teddy, Uncle Harry's here. Can you show us your brown hair?" He asked.

"Gafoom!" He squealed in his baby-talk, then his hair color changed first to blue, then pink, then some awful orange/green combination, before finally changing into that which, true to his grandmother's words, was the exact color of Remus' werewolf fur.

"Merlin, she was right." Harry breathed, wide-eyed.

"That was amazing." Macoval stated. "How did he do that?"

"His mother was a Metamorphmagus. He inherited it, and can change his hair color only, at the moment anyways. It sometimes changes with his mood, other times with a whim." Harry explained.

Later, they all found themselves eating around a fire in the middle of town. Nearly everyone had taken their meals back to their homes, but a few remained at the fire, curious about the visitors. Macoval had explained to them what Harry would be doing during the year he would be here, and they had gotten the okay for Harry to send letters back and forth to his family, however it was decided that Harry would leave for their clan after he'd helped Severus with his side-practice in August. This gave them all a summer together before he went off.

They stayed the night, Teddy absolutely loving it, and Alden learning much more about werewolves than he ever would during school. Dudley and Draco spent most of their time just watching, as they weren't really interested in the goings on around them now that they knew Harry would be safe.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Christmas Eve, they went back to the Manor. Harry and Severus set out to take Teddy back to his grandmother, but that did not go over as expected at all. As they entered the house, a sad looking house-elf came up to them. "Harry Potter Sir, are you here to pay your respects?" It asked.<p>

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Harry said.

"Madame Tonks has passed. Moffet assumed you would be paying respects to her." The house elf replied.

Harry's eyes went wide. "Where is she? Take me to her."

The elf reached out and touched Harry, then with a snap of it's fingers, popped to another part of the house. Nearly 10 minutes later, she came back with a red and puffy eyed Harry. "Andromeda's dead." Harry whispered, clutching a paper. "She looked like she died in her sleep." His hand shook a bit. "But she knew she was going to die. She had this lying on her stomach." He handed the paper to Severus, who glanced over it, noting that it was a will which stated Teddy was to be left in Harry's care, and her vaults shifted over into Teddy's name.

Severus nodded, and the three went off to Gringotts to hand in her will, and to make a vault for Teddy from Harry's own vaults. While Harry was getting that set up, Severus did the same for both Teddy and Alden with his own, unknown to Harry. When they got home, Alden was surprised to see them still with the 7 month old, who was asleep in Harry's arms. He noted the sad look in Harry's eyes, and looked to Severus.

"His grandmother's died." Severus informed him. "Harry is now Teddy's legal guardian."

Harry, who had suddenly remembered that Moffet was also willed to him, called out for her. The small house-elf popped in, and looked around slightly confused. "Moffet, if you want you may stay here with us as well." He informed her.

"Moffet would be happy to serve you Master Harry." She replied, bowing a bit.

"You may gather anything you like from the Tonks estates." He told her. She nodded and popped off.

"Damn." Severus said suddenly. "I've forgotten to gather today's present."

Harry looked at him, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

"I've been going out to Diagon Alley every day since the beginning of the holidays and gathering a present for you, for the 12 days of Christmas. You may thank Dudley for that idea." He informed the young man.

Harry smiled a bit, the sadness he'd felt lifted some. While he didn't know Andromeda well, he felt bad for Teddy, who had already lost so many. "You don't need to do that."

"On the contrary, yes I do. I always finish what I start, come hell or high water." Severus informed him. "I shall run by Diagon Alley now, while you take a bath. Remember, we've promised to go by the Weasleys tonight, and they will want to know about Teddy."

Harry nodded a bit solemnly. After his bath, Severus had returned and wrapped the gift, setting it under the tree with the others. He, Alden, Harry, and Teddy, who was still sleeping, made their way to the Weasleys. Harry had informed them about Andromeda, and Teddy's coming into his and Severus' life. While it was a sad state of affairs, they reminded him that it also brought Harry the chance to raise another child, and Molly even offered to take care of the little boy during the day time while Harry and Severus were teaching.

After dinner, no one could be found with a frown on their face, even Severus was looking quite neutral, and presents had started coming out. Draco had sent his gift, a snowglobe from Canada, with the men to be given to Charlie, who wasn't coming until the next day.

Alden had received all manner of things from the Weasleys, but his favorite thing was the photo album, containing photos of him, Severus, and Harry together during their last visit.

Harry had received more food than he knew what to do with, from the twins, Bill, and Charlie. Percy had given him a book about teaching methods. Ron had gifted him with a practice snitch. Arthur had given him a decorated wand holster. Molly had gifted him with his traditional red hand-knitted sweater, that had a golden snitch on the front. Apparently, Mrs. Weasley had taken to decorating them with pictures instead of letters this year. He put it on over his shirt, and smiled brightly at his fiance.

Severus was surprised when he'd gotten three gifts from them. One from Molly, one from Arthur, and one signed from all the boys. The one from Arthur was a green quick-quotes-quill, with a silver nub and black ink-pot. The boys had worked together, and got him a set of empty potion vials, and a gift certificate to the local apothecary that summed up to 50 Galleons, something they told him to help replace all of the things they'd destroyed in his classroom over the years.

When he opened the gift from Molly, he stared at the fabric. Lifting it up, he found that she had knitted for him a green sweater with a bubbling cauldron on the front.

"Oh dear me, I knew I'd forgotten something!" Molly said, as she reached for a present under the tree. "Alden dear, this is for you."

He opened the present and pulled out his own green sweater, it had a picture of a snake on it. "I wasn't sure what you were interested in dear, so I went with your house symbol." Molly told him. "Put them on, both of you. I want to see if they fit!"

Severus gave a look of slight confusion and trepidation to his fiance, who simply nodded and told him to put it on.

The two Slytherins pulled their sweaters over their heads, both of which were a bit too big for them. Harry smiled. "You're really part of the family now." Ron was off in a corner, trying his damnedest to not snicker in front of Snape. He'd never thought he would see day where his mean, sarcastic potions professor would dress in anything that wasn't black, much less something his mother made.

Alden was grinning like an idiot, and Severus was glaring at the sweater he wore, wondering what on earth possessed him to wear the silly thing. Just as he was about to take it off, Molly pulled them all into a group and waved her wand at the camera that she had apparently set up, which snapped several pictures of the group.

Severus, Alden, Harry, and Teddy were just leaving later that night, when Molly stopped them. "I'll have little Teddy's sweater done by February." She informed them, loading their arms with more food.

* * *

><p>Once they'd returned to the manor, Harry had set to putting the food into the cupboards with Severus' help. Draco bound into the room, then started roaring in laughter. "Uncle Severus, what in the name of Merlin are you wearing?"<p>

The older man glanced down at himself, noticing the Slytherin green sweater that was knitted for him. "I'd forgot I had that on." Severus stated. In what he was sure was some sort of strange, insane Christmas spirit thing, he didn't take it off, but instead stated, "It was a gift from Molly. Apparently it signifies that she accepts me as part of her family. I honored that by wearing it."

Harry smiled brightly, wrapping Severus in a hug. "Admit it, you like it."

"I shall admit no such thing." The man said, a smile playing on his lips.

"I think the cauldron's just right for you." Harry informed him.

"Yes, well, it was a good choice." Severus informed him, placing their lips together. When they broke apart, he cleared his throat. "You have 11 gifts that need to be opened tonight." He turned to Draco. "And you need to go to bed."

"It's not even midnight!" Draco protested.

"We have much to do tomorrow, or have you forgotten?" The stoic man asked.

"Ohhh, right. I did forget about that. Ugh, Harry, you're in for a hell of a walk." Draco said, flouncing off.

"A walk? Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"Another tidbit of the things we do for this town. There is a shelter for battered women about 4 miles from here, and every Christmas day, I take down properly cooked food. Another thing mother started that I carried on." He explained. "The house-elves usually cook it throughout the night and morning casting warming charms over it, and around noon on Christmas day I deliver it hot and ready. The charms are timed to wear off by the time we reach the shelters door. Usually if anyone asks about their mood enhancing properties, or warmth, it's simply 'a family secret'."

Harry and Severus found themselves in the living room after Dudley, Draco, and Alden had gone to bed. Moffet was watching over Teddy in one of the empty rooms they'd had. She had brought back his crib, a rocking chair, and several other things the child would need from the Tonks Estates.

Harry was opening his first gift, with 'day 1' wrote atop it. He tore at the paper from the box, and nearly laughed aloud when he saw what was inside. A cornish pixie dressed as a bird and a pear. Well, a half eaten pear. Apparently the pixie had gotten hungry.

The second gift held two owl eggs, with care instructions for the snowy owls inside. They were due to hatch on Christmas Day, and a warming charm had been placed on the box.

The third held three French bottles of wine. The fourth, four boxes, each that held the song of a different bird.

The fifth one had Harry blushing a bit. There were 5 types of circles. A ring for his finger, a charmed collar for his snake, a bracelet for his wrist, a necklace for his neck, and the one that had him nearly as red as his sweater, a cock-ring. Clearing his throat, he stated, "Now I know why you wanted to do this when everyone else was in bed." Severus smirked, and pushed forward the 6th gift.

Number six held only one thing, much to Harry surprise, a book about the six elements, earth, air, fire, water, light, and dark, and how to practically use them as a wizard.

Number 7 held a strange type of candle-holder with seven spots for candles. "This is frightfully similar to a menorah, save the fact it would be missing two spots, and the center spot doesn't stick up farther. A wizarding thing I presume?" Harry asked.

Severus nodded. "It tends to keep slipping my mind that you still don't know many wizarding traditions. The use of this is also similar to the Jewish menorah, in that one candle is lit every morning with the previous day's candle. The first candle is lit by a couple's wands. This practice is done the week before a wedding, and charms are placed upon the candles in order for them to not melt when they are when lit for the first 6 mornings. On the 7th morning, the day of the wedding, the charms are broken by the lighting of the 7th candle, and they melt throughout the day and the ceremony. Only when the candles have all melted can the couple be pronounced."

"That is so romantic." Harry said, his chest thumping a bit hard. "To be quite honest, I was beginning to think that our wedding might be pushed back until after I've returned. Not much has been said about it since the proposal." He fiddled with his hands a bit nervously.

"The wedding shall be before you leave, there's no doubt." Severus commented, wrapping the young man up in a tight embrace. "I want everyone you may meet in your training to know that you're taken." He placed a tender kiss on his lover's lips, then moved back to his seat, pushing forward the next gift.

Number 8 held a tiny Acromantula figurine, and a note that gave instructions on how to charm it to life in situations where you needed something stuck in a small place.

The 9th one held 9 pairs of incredibly tacky and colorful socks. Harry smiled, a tiny bit sadly, as he remembered Dumbledore's words on socks, and how he complained when he didn't receive a pair for Christmas.

The 10th one was a small pack of medical potions. Two skele-gro, two calming draughts, two pepper-ups, two blood replenishing potions, one Antidote to Common Poisons, and one Antidote to Uncommon Poisons.

The 11th was a key, a key to a vault in Gringotts. "Severus? Why did you give me a key?" He asked.

"You'll see when you go to Gringotts the 26th and use it." The man replied, looking a tiny bit nervous.

Harry smiled a bit, wondering what could be in the vault, then wrapped his lover in a kiss. "Thank you Sev, for all of them. They're wonderful."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **_Yes, I am aware that on the 5th day in the original song, the gold rings refer to a nickname of a type of bird and not actual rings. Severus is also aware of this, but he has chosen to go with a similarity more practical.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Christmas morning, the five-some opened their gifts from each other specifically for the day. Alden was overjoyed, by the simple fact that his uncle never gave him anything for Christmas, and so many people had wanted to gift him with things that were not only fun, but useful. Though most of the gifts shared that morning were small, they were no less thought out and definitely wonderful for those who received them. Teddy was quite content playing with the wrapping paper, crawling into boxes, and ignoring the multitude of toys bought for him.

Around noon, after Dudley and Alden had two baskets of food, Harry had one since he was also carrying Teddy, Severus had four, and Draco had three, they started out of the manor. Nearly reaching the gate, a woman who was coming up the walk stopped them. "Is this where Mr. Potter lives?" She asked.

"Yes, that's me." Harry stated.

"Good good. I was sent by the Ministry to assess the home and family conditions for one Ted Lupin, pending the completion of his adoption." She explained.

Harry rose an eyebrow. "On Christmas day?"

"Yes, the Ministry likes to come at the most odd times to ensure the families have no chance at preparing something." Severus informed him.

"I wouldn't put it like that," The woman said, "But he's right. I shall need both an interview and a tour of the house."

"Well, if you want an interview, you'll have to come with us." Severus told her. "We're taking food down to the battered womens shelter, and I will not allow some sort of Ministry interference to stop these women from having a proper Christmas." He set off with a snickering Draco, wide-eyed Dudley, and smiling Harry in tow.

The woman stared on a bit not used to being told what to do, until Harry called out, "Feel free to ask us any questions, just put up a charm to keep the muggles from hearing." She went after them and set up the charm.

"Make yourself useful." Severus stated, handing her one of his baskets, and taking one from Draco, handing it to her as well.

"Severus, she didn't offer." Harry said, playfully nudging the man.

"No, it's quite alright." The woman said, still a bit surprised. "I've no qualms helping others, and I am glad to be doing something besides striking fear into someone's heart on Christmas day. I am Anita Baflit by the way."

"I'm Harry, as you know, this is Teddy, say 'Hello' Teddy."

"Weeeee" Teddy squealed, causing a snort from Severus and a chuckle from both Harry and Anita.

"That's Severus, my fiance. He will be equal to me in raising Teddy, another father figure. This is Alden, our other son. We adopted him a few months back."

"Why didn't a person come when I was adopted?" Alden asked the lady.

"Because you aren't a child under 11. All children under 11 have to have their homes approved by Ministry officials." She explained.

"Oh, I see. Thank you." Alden said.

Harry smiled a bit, "He's always very curious." then continued. "This is Draco, Severus' godson. And that's Dudley, my cousin."

"Are all of you going to be living together?" She asked.

"Yes, until Draco and Dudley find their own places. Draco's been looking for his, but Dudley just found out he was a wizard, and until he learns an appropriate amount of magic, he will be staying on at the manor." Harry told her.

"Actually," Draco interrupted, "I have decided to stay at the manor as well, until Dudley learns enough to be out on his own. No offense Dudley, I just don't want you accidentally setting off a spell and not be able to fix it."

"None taken." Dudley said with a slight chuckle. "I'm still learning, and Hermione's doing a wonderful job teaching me."

"Where will Teddy be staying whilst you are teaching Mr. Potter?" Anita asked.

"With Molly Weasley." He informed her. "She offered to come by Hogwarts during the mornings and take Teddy for the day, then drop him back off in my chambers in the evenings at 4."

"Do you trust this woman?" She inquired.

"Oh absolutely. She's raised 7 children. 6 boys and one girl. In fact, you may have heard of two of them, they have a shop on Diagon Alley, 'Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes'. If I would trust anyone besides my immediate family to help me raise a child, it would be her." He stated.

"Ah yes, I knew the name Weasley sounded familiar." She said thoughtfully. "Fine boys those twins. Very imaginative."

"Indeed." Severus commented sarcastically, scoffing.

"You don't approve of his choice in guardian?" Anita asked the man.

"No Madame, that was not who my comment was directed towards. I don't approve of the twins. Molly Weasley is as trustworthy and loyal as a Phoenix. The twins, however, are **overly**..._imaginative_, as you put it." He informed her.

"The twins gave him a bit of a rough time during their school years." Harry explained.

Anita nodded, then as she was about to go on, another woman, Lorraine, came up. "Dr. Snape, Harry, Draco, Alden. Whose this little tyke?" She asked.

"Get closer Lorraine." Harry stated, out of the charm's barrier. When she got in close, he explained. "We have a muffling charm up so the muggles can't hear. This is Teddy, my Godson. His grandmother died yesterday, and he's staying with me now."

"Oh dear, poor thing." Lorraine said, stroking the child's cheek. "Is he a wizard?"

"Yes Ma'am, and a Metamorphagus, from his mother's side. We've charmed his hair to stay put so he doesn't scare anyone." Harry told her.

Lorraine looked at the other woman. "And who are you?" She asked, her voice showing her concern.

"Anita Balfit, sent from the Ministry to assess the living and familial conditions of Ted Lupin's appointed guardian." She explained.

Nodding, Lorraine turned to Severus. "Still carrying on that Christmas Feast tradition I see. Give me one of those, I'll help." She stated, holding out a hand. Severus plopped one of the baskets into her grasp. "I'm Lorraine by the way. I help out Mr. Snape during the summers with his side-practice."

"Side-practice?" Anita asked.

"We hadn't gotten there yet." Harry told Lorraine.

"During the summer, a week and a half before term at Hogwarts starts, I spend 3 days with my doors open at the Manor distributing mild potions disguised as medicine to those who need it where traditional muggle medical science has failed them. I also screen the newcomers and any children brought along for any magic." He informed her.

"Ahh, right right." Anita stated.

"I would have thought that would be illegal." Dudley said.

"Not when muggle traditional medicine has failed them, and as long as no muggles find out about the wizarding world, then no." Severus explained. "Left turn here." He said, as they came to a fork in the road.

They went on to the shelter, Anita asking question after question, eventually trailing from professional inquiries to down right curiosity. As she was about to ask another question, they came upon the battered womens shelter. "We're here, now please try to act like muggles." Severus said to them all.

Entering the doors, they were greeted by the couple that ran the place. "Dr. Snape, I'm so glad to see you. It's always a pleasure. Here, let me take some of those." The woman said, grabbing both of Severus' baskets, and Mr. Thompson grabbing the one Harry was carrying.

"Thank you Mrs. Thompson." Severus said, Harry following suit and thanking her as well. "Are there any newcomers this year?"

"Yes, two in the back room, waiting on you." She explained, causing Severus to nod, and everyone else but Draco to look confused.

"I screen them as well." Severus lowly informed his group, earning several nods and exclamations of understanding before he set off with two muffins in hand.

"We're muggles, but our family has known the Prince family for generations." Mr. Thompson explained in a very low whisper, then louder went on. "I see he's enlisted some help this year."

"Oh, actually these two ladies were purely coincidental. But yes, we've decided to help this year."

Setting down the basket on a large table in an empty room, Mr. Thompson asked, "Will you all be returning next year as well?"

"I shall." Draco stated, beginning to unpack his basket.

"I'm afraid I wont be here." Harry informed the man, "I'll be in training then."

"Oh? For how long?" Lorraine asked, unpacking hers as well.

"11 months and 15 days precisely. I'll be leaving right after I help with the side-practice, and coming back before the next." He explained.

"That's an awful long time to be apart." Lorraine stated.

"Who will be taking care of Teddy whilst you are going?" Anita asked.

"Severus will, and Molly." Harry stated.

"I'll help." Alden said, standing a bit back from the table. He wasn't helping unpack the baskets, as he was in charge of gathering them in a pile once they were void of food. "He's my little brother then, isn't he? It's only right a big brother help."

"You wont be saying that once you have to change his nappies." Draco said, sticking his tongue out with a disgusted look on his face.

"All clear, both muggles." Severus stated upon entering the room, and taking his place to help.

* * *

><p>Back at the manor, just as Severus had finished giving the woman a tour, they walked back into the sitting room where Harry was playing peek-a-boo with Teddy. "He's very good with Teddy." Anita said, causing the young man to jump slightly.<p>

"I'd forgotten you were here." Harry informed her. Teddy, who at the moment was sporting a very bright teal hair-color, was giggling and squealing.

"Well then, I can see this home is well suited for Ted Lupin, I have no qualms with him staying. I do, however, have a qualm with walking 8 miles today. I shall have a nice relaxing bath when I get home."

"Hold on a moment." Severus stated, going off to a cupboard in his lab. He returned a minute later, and gave the woman a potion. "It's a muscle relaxant. Drink it, and you'll be fine. I shall need to give one of these to Dudley as well."

"No you wont." Harry told him. "Dudley's been training as a boxer for a while now, he's used to walking like that to build up muscle. I, however, would gladly appreciate one of those." He said, holding out his hand.

Severus smirked, then walked over to his young fiance and placed the vial in his hand, only to be grabbed by the robes and pulled down into a short kiss.

"Would you please stop sticking your tongue down his throat every time I turn around?" Dudley asked as he walked into the room.

"My tongue was nowhere near his throat that time, thank you very much. It was closed-mouth." Harry informed him.

"Ah, that's alright then." Dudley said, shuffling off his shoes and laying on the couch.

"Well, I shall be on my way, and will inform the ministry of my findings. Happy Christmas." Anita said with a bright smile, before walking from the Manor.


	34. Chapter 34

_**A/N: **_Thanks to: Serena R. Snape for the Teddy-insertion into the plot! I forgot to add this on the chapter that he came into view, but it's here now. xD She reminded me about him, so thank her for the reminder, else this would probably be taking an entirely different turn. Also, I would like to state that I still differentiate between the houses, because while they are working on working together, they also have competition for the house cup, and have their various house pride.

**Chapter 34**

The 26th, Harry walked into Gringotts alone. Severus was at home with Alden and Teddy. Draco and Dudley were at a lesson with Hermione. Walking up to a Griphook, Harry stated, "My fiance gave me a key for Christmas, and I've no idea which vault it goes to." Then handed the goblin an old key.

"Ahh yes, this is a key to one of your nearly empty vaults. Mr. Snape gave us quite a hassle when he made that request, wouldn't stop finding loopholes around our legal system just to get one pi- Oh right, Christmas present. Follow me." Griphook jumped down from his seat, and led Harry to the trolley.

After an intense ride, they screeched to a halt where the goblin went to open vault number 419. Harry peered into the darkness curiously, then a light without a source entered the small chamber, and showed a covered portrait sitting on a pedestal. Walking up to the picture, he turned back to Griphook with a look of confusion, then turned back and pulled the soft cloth from the image.

He stared in a sort of disbelief at the magical portrait of Lily Potter (nee Evans), who at the moment was sleeping peacefully. "Mo- mother?" He reached out and touched the canvas, but the woman didn't awake. Turning his head, he looked to Griphook for answers.

"She had this painted right after you were born. Put it into a vault with many other items for you when you grew up. Mr. Snape, at first, wanted to search it out himself, but we'd informed him that since you weren't married yet, he didn't have access to your vaults. We discussed it for a few hours, or should I say he yelled and Rofrink cowered, and decided to simply take the portrait to another of your vaults, which we cleaned out and mixed with one of the others that had very little in it already, and gave him the key in a box that could only be opened by you." The goblin explained. "To wake her up cast the 'finite incantatum' over the portrait. I would wait until you get her home though, portraits never like being shrunk or carried by owl when they're awake."

Harry, who was having an internal battle to not cry (as by then as he believed no portraits of his mother still existed thanks to the destruction of Godric's Hollow), nodded silently, then shrunk the portrait, wrapping it in the cloth that was covering it, and putting it gently into his pocket.

Apparating directly to the manor after he'd left the bank, he sought out Severus, wrapped him in a hug, and lost his battle with tears. Alden, who had just came into the room, looked at the scene, and worriedly asked, "What happened? Is he alright?"

"He will be fine." Severus replied, stroking his fiance's hair.

Harry lifted his head and sniffled a bit. "How did you know she was there?"

"I didn't. Most parents do that though, so I went on a hunch." He softly kissed the young man's forehead.

"Most parents do what?" Alden asked curiously.

Harry smiled a bit, then took from his pocket the shrunk portrait and unwrapped it. "Apparently, most parents leave magical portraits for their children for when they grow up." He said in a soft voice. "I should probably leave her shrunk, she's going on my wall in my chambers at Hogwarts. She can come back to the Manor this summer."

Severus nodded his agreement, and the two men, plus two children set back off to Hogwarts. Granted, they weren't supposed to be back for another three days, but they had known Minerva wouldn't mind.

* * *

><p>Harry was alone with Teddy in his rooms, having just put up his mother's portrait. The baby was napping in his transfigured crib, something that would have to be replaced within the next few days. Harry sat, watching his sleeping mother in her portrait for a few moments, then cast the 'finite incantatum'.<p>

A slight movement, a mumble, a stretch and yawn later, his mother's portrait awoke. "Mother." He whispered.

"My baby!" The woman's eyes went wide. "Harry, sweety, how are you?"

The young man walked up to the portrait, putting his fingers on the canvas again. "I feel a little but of everything right now." He told her.

"Darling, you act like you haven't seen me in ages." The woman stated, slightly confused.

"You're dead." He told her, his voice catching lightly.

"Oh no, my baby boy, I'm not dead. As long as my portrait remains, a part of me is still alive. When did my body pass Harry?" She asked, pursing her lips as if kissing his hand.

"Halloween, I was one." He told her, silently demanding himself to be strong.

"Oh my child. I'm so sorry I've missed so much of your life." She tried to switch the topic to something a little less painful. "Where did you get that scar?" It didn't work.

"From Voldemort, the night he killed you and father. He tried the killing curse on me as well, but your sacrifice for me kept him from it." He explained, feeling his face growing warm from his refusal to cry.

"Oh, let's not talk of such saddening things. Tell me what you have done with your life." She said desperately.

"Well, when you died, I was dropped on the doorstep of Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon."

Lily looked horrified at that. "They hate magic!" She stated.

"I know. Trust me, I know first hand. I didn't even know I was a wizard until my 11th birthday when Hagrid came to get me."

"Oh he was always so kind!" Lily said, almost glad the young man skipped over what was sure to be a troubled childhood. Not that she didn't want to hear it, she just wanted their reunion to be a bit happier than that, no she would ask about that later.

"Well, my first year at Hogwarts, Voldemort attached himself to our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Quirrel. He tried to get me to give him the philosopher's stone so he could become immortal. It turned out that he burned at my touch, so I killed Quirrel and Voldemort by burning them with my hands."

"You were only 11!" She screeched. "That should have never happened, my baby I'm so sorry."

Harry nearly laughed. "It gets better." He said sarcastically. "In second year, I found out I was a parselmouth. Everyone stopped calling me a hero, a name which I got because Voldemort disappeared for 11 years after he failed killing me, and started calling me the heir of Slytherin. Then, the Chamber of Secrets got opened thanks to Tom Riddle's ghost possessing a diary, which turned out to be a horcrux, and coaxing a first year girl into opening it and setting loose a giant basilisk which went around turning people petrified trying to kill them. They were lucky though, they all saw its eyes through some reflective thing and didn't die. Then I went into the chamber, got stabbed by one of the monster's teeth, killed it, then stabbed the diary and Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, cried on me so I didn't die, and I saved the 1st year Tom was using."

Lily's eyes were very wide, and she stared in near disbelief. "Tell me you haven't been put into so much danger so often!"

"If I did, it would be a lie." Harry told her. "In third year, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban-"

"WHY was Sirius in Azkaban?" Lily demanded.

"He was framed for murdering some muggles and Wormtail, and outing you to Voldemort. It was actually Peter Pettigrew who did all that, he lived in his animagus form until 3rd year. Anyway, he escaped, we all thought he was trying to kill me, but found out he was trying to help me. Nearly got torn to bits by Remus during a full moon, oh don't look like that mother, he didn't mean to, but Professor Snape stood in front of us while Sirius distracted him in his animagus."

"Severus? Us?"

"Yeah, Severus was there trying to keep us safe from Sirius. He'd still believed that the man was trying to kill me. He put himself in front of me, Ron, and Hermione, two of my best friends, and wouldn't let Moony touch us even when he got swiped at. He saved me in first year too, cast a counter-jinx at my broom during a quidditch match when Quirrel was trying to make me fall." Harry explained.

"He saved you... My god I knew there was a reason I loved that man." Harry was the one to go wide-eyed for a moment. "Oh not that way silly, he was gay. I loved him like a brother."

Harry smirked a bit. "Trust me, I knew that, I'd just thought you hated him after he called you that name."

Lily shook her head. "No dear, I didn't hate him. It right pissed me off, have no doubt, but I never hated him."

Smiling, Harry went on. "In fourth year, the Tri-Wizard Tournament was held at Hogwarts, but Crouch Jr. disguised as Moody slipped my name into the goblet, and I was the fourth contestant."

"At 14? You could have died... again!"

"Yes, at 14. I battled a dragon, fought mer-people for my friends' bodies, and made my way through a life-threatening maze and tied with a Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory. We both reached out for the cup at the same time, which turned out to be a port-key to a graveyard, Wormtail bound me, a fetal Voldemort ordered him to kill Cedric as the spare, then Wormtail used my blood to restore Voldie to a useful body, but it looked like half snake. So then, old snake-face came back full on. Then he tried to kill me again, but our magic kinda connected and his past victims came out, leaving me enough time to grab Cedric's body and make it back to Hogwarts. Then Crouch Jr. tried to kill me, failed and got outed, and I gave the winnings from the tournament to the Weasley Twins to help fund their business."

"Merlin, Harry, baby-"

"It gets even better." Harry interrupted. "5th year I get attacked by dementors in Surrey, find out about the Order of the Phoenix, some ministry toad gets appointed DADA professor but she wont teach us anything useful, so me, Hermione, and Ron start DA, which got called Dumbledore's Army. The Ministry toad tortures us kids with blood quills, Dumbledore makes Snape give me Occlumency lessons, which went horribly by the way, I peeked into Snape's pensive, saw the marauders torturing him, and him calling you a mudblood. I got visions from Voldie, saw Arthur Weasly attacked and Sirius captured and tortured, but the one with Sirius was a false vision. I went off to save him. He wasn't there, but he did come later, and Bellatrix Lestrange killed him. Then I dropped the prophesy, and Dumbledore battles Voldemort, who escaped."

"Please tell nothing happened in 6th year." Lily pleaded.

"I wouldn't be the Boy-Who-Lived if nothing happened in 6th year. Voldie returned to power, Dumbledore and I set off to destroy Voldie's horcruxes, and Snape killed Dumbledore."

"He wouldn't!" She stated, horrified.

"He did. But only because Dumbledore ordered him to since he was already dying from one of the horcruxes poisoning him. He was spying on Voldie, who had ordered Draco Malfoy, another spy for the light, to kill Dumbledore because he didn't think he could do it, and Dumbledore told Severus to kill him so Draco wouldn't have to tear his soul apart."

"This is all so much to happen in so little time." Lily said, not sure whether she was happy her son had survived, or angry at Dumbledore for not keeping him safer.

"I didn't have a 7th year. Me, Ron, and Hermione went off to search down and destroy the remaining horcruxes, Voldie got control of the ministry, then we had the final battle and I killed old snake-face and siphoned his power, and many, many people on our side died."

"My child, I wish I could have been there to stop all of that." Lily said. They talked for a while, Harry explaining how he had got the DADA position at Hogwarts, how he hated his fame, and so much more, then Lily asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Harry fidgeted a bit. "Uhm... No, but I have a fiance."

"Ohhh, a fiancee, what's she like?" Lily asked, the sadness from earlier completely overshadowed by the joy that her baby was getting married.

"Uhhhh... He actually."

"Oh yes, he then. What's he like?"

"Well, he's tall, mysterious, a bit grumpy in the mornings. He cares deeply about me, and hates my fame as much as I do. He has a deep voice, and loves me more than he admits. And he's the one who asked me to marry him. He also was the one who gave me the chance to find you." Harry told her, still fidgeting a bit.

"Well, more of his personality!" She demanded.

"Uhhh... Let's see, he's protective, possessive, assertive, aggressive, snarky, and really likes coffee."

"Okay then, how old is he?" She asked.

"38."

"Rig- 38? Did you say 38? 38, snarky, grumpy, deep voice, hates fame, my god, you're engaged to Severus Snape!" Lily said, her mouth agape, staring in disbelief once more.

In reply, Harry smiled nervously. "Surprise?"

"It certainly is. I demand to speak with him!" She said, crossing her arms.

"Please don't be angry." Harry pleaded. All he received was a glare, so he gave a resigned sigh and went to the fireplace to floo-call Severus. "Mum wants to speak with you." He told the man.

Severus came into the room, then wrapped his arm around Harry's waist, giving him a chaste kiss. "Where is she?" He asked.

"Right there." Harry said in a tiny voice, pointing towards the opposite wall.

Severus' eyes grew wide a bit, and he released his young fiance, then cleared his throat. "Evening Lily." He said, as normally as possible.

"Severus." She greeted, putting her hands on her hips. "When you were asked to protect my son, this was not what I had in mind."

There was something in her voice that Harry couldn't quite place, which made him fearful. Severus, on the other hand, knew exactly what that thing was, and smirked at the portrait. "Yes, but at least this way I can protect him against sexually transmitted diseases from other people."

"Severus!" Harry called out, mortified.

"Oh? And whose going to protect him from yours?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Mother!" Harry cried again, turning red in the face.

Lily and the older man glared at each other for a good minute before she burst into laughter, and he let out a half snort, half chuckle. Harry looked on at them as if they had lost their minds.

"I don't know whether to be embarrassed that you've just brought up my son's sex life, or embarrassed because I had a crack at yours in front of him." Lily admitted when he giggling died down.

"I'd go for both, that's what I'm feeling." Severus told her, a small smile playing on his lips.

Harry stared at them again, wondering what just happened. Lily smirked at her son. "You've done a good job you know. He's told me about his school years, and how you saved him, several times throughout."

"Actually, he still saves me, and other people, sometimes." Harry told her, shaking his head from the confusion he felt.

"You haven't told her about your condition?" Severus asked seriously.

"Not yet, I was saving it for later, but might as well now." Harry admitted. "When I siphoned Voldie's power..." He explained that story to her in great detail, making sure to emphasize that only Severus seemed to be able to pull him out of his stated of distress. "... And that's where we are today."

"My baby and my best friend, helping each other so much." Lily sighed. "I only wish I was here in body to hug you both! I can't believe you've adopted children! When can I see them? I want to know my grandchildren."

"Teddy's in my room, Severus, can you go and get Alden?" Harry asked, standing. Snape nodded, and used the floo to go back to the dungeons, while Harry went to get Teddy.

Severus came back a moment later, alone, and looking irritated. "He's not in the dungeons."

"Okay, I'll go check the Great Hall, you check near the lake. Sorry mum, we've got to find him." Harry said nervously. He'd always worry about Alden when he didn't know where he was.

"It's quite alright my dear, you go and find him, I'll be waiting here." Lily said, smiling a bit at Harry's parental worry even though he was so young.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Harry, Severus, Teddy, and Alden all walked back into Harry's quarters. Lily greeted them from her portrait. "Well, where was he? Was he alright?"

Alden looked at the woman, then back to Harry, who replied to her. "Yes, he was fine. Simply out by the lake on a rock doing his holiday homework. Alden, this is my mother, Lily, also your grandmother."

The child looked up at the woman. "Wow. I never thought I would have the chance to meet grandparents."

Lily smiled at the boy, and her grin grew wider and wider, until she closed her eyes and let out a strange sound that was almost like, 'squeeeee'. "I have grandbabies!" She called out, nearly clapping her hands. "Well, one grandbaby and one grandchild. I can hardly call a 12 year old a baby, now can I? Alden dear, tell me all about yourself!"

While Alden was telling Lily all about himself, Severus remembered something important. "Harry, don't we have an appointment at the Ministry today at three?"

The young man's eyes grew wide. "Crap, you're right! I had forgotten all about that, Merlin! What are we going to do with Teddy and Alden?"

At the mention of his name, Alden looked up. "What happened?"

"Severus and I have an appointment at the Ministry today at three. Another bill we're trying to pass. We can't bring you two along though." Harry told him.

"Why not ask Minerva?" Severus offered.

"She's probably busy though." Harry thought.

Raising an eyebrow, Snape commented, "She's always busy, but she always makes time for the things that are important, and to her, the children are important. Not to mention her amazing ability to multitask."

Harry nodded, and floo-called Minerva. Severus was barely paying attention to whatever he was saying, as the sight of Potter bent over, sticking his arse into the air like that was both amusing and tempting. The latter thought caused him to barely take his bottom lip into his mouth and the corner of his lips to quirk up a bit.

Lily caught the man's stare, and cleared her throat. "Ahem, Severus?"

Turning his head back towards the portrait, he raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Lily?" He asked in his best I-did-nothing-wrong voice.

"I saw your face, I knew what you were thinking. Remember, I know you well and can see past that annoying mask you wear." Lily stated, crossing her arms. "Wait until you're alone." She ordered.

"I haven't the faintest idea of what you're rambling on about, woman." He said with a dismissive wave.

Harry popped his head back out. "Alden, you and Teddy are going to be staying with Minerva, we're meeting her in the main corridor." He said, scooping up Teddy who was beginning to get fussy.

The group walked through the halls and out into the meeting spot, where Minerva was sighted immediately. Handing Teddy to her, Harry said, "He's a little fussy, but he shouldn't be any problem. He's had his diaper changed about 30 minutes ago, so he should be fine for a short while, he's also due to eat again at 4. If you need to, there-"

"Mister Potter, I am quite capable of taking care of an infant for a few hours. I have two children of my own, and they are living proof that I am able." She stated, with a near smirk.

"Yes, but y- wait, you do?"

"Yes, they're both very alive and healthy."

"Oh, right then. Okay, sorry, uhm, just-"

"Uwaa dada!" Teddy stated confidently, as confidently as a baby can.

"Did... Did you just say dada?" Harry asked the 7 month old. "Moffet!"

The small house elf popped into the room. "Yes Master Harry?"

"Has Teddy ever spoken words at the Tonks' estate before?"

"No sir. Young Master Teddy only babbled."

"Uwaaaaa DADA!" Teddy screamed, harrumphing and fisting his little hands.

"I think that's his first word!" Harry said, his eyes growing wide and a smile forming on his face. "Teddy said Dada!"

"You can gloat about it later, get going or you will miss your appointment! It's 2:43 now." Minerva commanded.

"Oh right, the Ministry! I'd forgot again. Let's go." Harry said, pulling on Severus' sleeve, who was rolling his eyes at his young fiance's antics, even though he felt a bit of pride at Teddy's first word.

* * *

><p>Walking into the Ministry at 2:57, Harry and Severus had to give an auror their wands and wait to be escorted to the room they would be meeting Minister Shacklebolt in. Handing over their wands as per protocol, another - new to the job - auror spotted them and immediately recognized Severus Snape as one of the previous Dark Lord's inner circle.<p>

Walking up to the men, who were chatting about the bill they were trying to pass, he cleared his throat. "What are you doing here?" He asked them both. Harry might have been their savior, but he was a damn powerful wizard, especially to defeat someone as powerful as Voldemort. Who knows what kind of horrible things that Snape Death Eater could be filling his head with?

Severus did not like the tone that young auror used, he didn't like it one bit. "If you are not the one escorting us, or the one we are to meet with, then it is not your business." He said icily.

"Oh it's my business alright, when someone like you comes waltzing into the Ministry, it becomes my business to keep everyone here safe." The snobbish man replied.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows, trying to figure out what this auror's problem was. Severus simply tried ignoring the pest, hoping he would go away. When the idiot didn't leave, but crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot, the visiting wizards both rose an eyebrow towards him.

"Well? You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"I do so hate repeating myself." Severus said in mock exasperation.

"As he said, it's none of your business." Harry informed the man before him, taking his turn to cross arms.

"I'll have you both know I can arrest you right here, right now." The auror spat. "You're hiding something, and I know it."

"What nonsense charges could your tiny mind possibly come up with for an excuse at arrest?" Severus inquired. "Are we not sporting enough color in our wardrobes? Are the clasps holding our hair back not the correct shape? What possible charge could you slap us with to make your extraordinarily large ego grow a bit more?"

"Oh, I know! Look at his tie." Harry said, going along with his fiance. "It's tacky-tie-Tuesday, and we didn't get the memo. We must be locked up for not coming with audaciously outlandish neck accessories."

"Shut up the both of you, I'm taking you to my superiors." The auror said.

"His superiors." Harry smirked devilishly. "Tell me, have you ever been with the Wizengamot simply chatting about things after the business was taken care of? Have you ever been alone in the same room with Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt, catching up on old times? Have you ever even spoken with the Minister for anything other than running an errand for one of your higher ups?"

The young auror glared at the man. "I will not be discussing what I do with someone who is gallivanting around with a known Death Eater. Come with me, or I shall charge you with conspiracy."

"Conspiracy he says." Severus snorted. "You've no idea our reasoning for being here, and you've no right to go poking about in business that isn't yours."

"So you don't deny being a Death Eater." The auror countered, thinking he had won.

"I don't deny it, because there's nothing to deny." Severus told the young man.

"This is not appropriate treatment of two very well respected war heroes." Harry informed the idiot, glowering at him.

What none of them had noticed was their little altercation had caught the attention of several other aurors within the room, all of whom had known Harry and Severus to some degree, thanks to their frequent visits there, and had known of Severus' spying on Voldemort for the light. What the three also didn't notice, was that their escort had shown up, but then run off to go and get the Minister when he'd realized the men weren't coming with him.

"You are both being charged for-"

"Excuse me, gentlemen." Kingsley said, walking up to the group.

"Mi-Minister Shacklebolt!" The auror stammered out.

"Harry, Severus, it's good to see you both again. I hear the manor passed inspection from one of our toughest adoption associates." He said, making a bit of small talk.

Harry's eyebrows shot up. "She was one of the toughest? Dear me Kingsley, you must be joking. She was quite nice, and even helped us carry our baskets to the muggle womens shelter for Christmas feast."

"Are we talking about the same woman? Anita Balfit? She usually scares the living daylights out of people." The Minister asked.

"Yes, that's her. She was a doll, nothing at all scary about her." Severus informed the man.

"Dear me, it seems you two must have a wonderful home for young Ted. 75% of the time the people she interviews never apply for adoption again." He stated. "On to business then, why are you late for our appointment?"

"Oh, this auror was harassing us." Harry informed the man in a bored tone.

"_Me_, harassing** you**? Don't be ridiculous. You'd made that comment about my tie, and refused to tell me what business you had here! If anything, you were harassing me." The man defended.

Shacklebolt raised an eyebrow to the man. "That tie is absolutely horrid, I would be surprised if they had managed to walk past you without saying something about it. And since when is it your business what people who come here do? The last time I checked Mr. Colton, your job was to report to your higher ups and do what they tell you to do. I know for a fact that none of your higher ups would have requested you detain these men. You shall be on cleaning duty for the remainder of the week."

"Maybe next time you wont call my fiance a Death Eater then." Harry told the man.

Kingsley's face grew tight, and his eyes narrowed. "You called my friend a Death Eater?"

"He is! He was! We all knew he was part of Voldemort's inner circle. I bet he still has the dark mark!" The idiot man replied, thinking it would help.

"Of course he has the dark mark, he needed it to spy on that mad man so we would have a chance at winning. Without either of these men, Voldemort would still be alive and in control of the Ministry!" The Minister said, his voice going deeper.

"But he was in Voldemort's inner circle! No spy could ever get that far!" The stupid man protested.

"Has it not occurred to you that perhaps he was such a good spy that Voldemort actually trusted him?" Harry asked the man.

"Rubbish!" The auror replied. "He's fooling you all!"

"You are fired Mr. Colton!" Shacklebolt stated with finality. "Clean out your desk, and do not return unless it's on business." He waved his wand and the man's robes and wand holster disappeared.

The dumbfounded auror stood there, his mouth agape and his pride shredded. "Let's get on with our meeting gentlemen." The minister suggested to the two visitors, before leading them back to the lifts.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

The bill that Harry and Severus had proposed two weeks ago was a success. Thanks to them, it was now completely legal in all aspects for witches and wizards to marry within certain other species, such as vampires, werewolves, goblins, and other sentient beings that had human characteristics. While this had been legal before in each of the respective species' clans, it was a gray area for the wizarding world, but no longer.

They had also worked together on another bill, one to keep werewolves and vampires from having to register themselves. This one proposed that if a werewolf or vampire were to attack anyone, and had they been caught, they would be punished accordingly with time in Azkaban in a special wing of the prison designed specifically to hold them, with their own kind as guards. This bill is currently being reviewed by the Wizengamot before it can be approved or denied by the Minister.

Hermione had compromised her views from her school-yard SPEW campaign, and was trying to pass her own bill for the ethical treatment of house-elves. Her bill requested that house-elves be paid a galleon a week for their services, and get at least one week off every year. She had tried to ask for proper clothing, 4 weeks a year off, and 10 galleons a week, but Harry had to remind her that this was an old-standing tradition type of thing she was trying to change, and it would be best to take things a little at a time, and to take into consideration what the house-elves want.

Alden's grades had gone up in nearly everything, even divination, which turned out to be not that bad once Firenze started teaching. His one friend, Carlota, was proving to be quite loyal, and he had even gotten in a few scrapes with some of the other students. Two Gryffindor boys, a Slytherin boy, and even a Hufflepuff boy and a Ravenclaw girl teamed up on him at one point. He wasn't fairing very well in the prospect of defending himself, as his mind had always wandered to the dark curses his uncle had taught him, and to keep from disappointing his parents, he would simply not retaliate, which in turn caused him to not defend himself at all.

Teddy was growing steadily, out of his clothes and into everyone's hearts. He wasn't fussy most of the time, but sometimes he would seem to have mood swings, especially near the full moon. No one was sure what to make of this, as he hadn't transformed at all, but Lily's portrait was the first one to notice that only when the baby's hair changed color to match Moony's fur, it also grew a tiny bit.

Severus' experiments on the Wolfsbane potion were absolutely not going anywhere. Everything he tried simply did not work, and it was frustrating him to no end, which caused his grumpiness to skyrocket. Houses were losing more points recently, and the man had been arguing with nearly everyone except Alden. Teddy doesn't count, since he can't argue back, at least that's what the man reasoned even though he had several one-sided arguments with the child over nap time and bath time. Usually though, Teddy just giggled and babbled at him.

Molly had finally finished Teddy's sweater, which was a bright blue with a moon on the front. Granted, the sweater looked more like a dress on the poor baby, mainly because it was made for a toddler, Harry still loved the gesture and dressed Teddy in it on some of the colder days.

Arthur had been slowly working his way up the ranks at the Ministry, and currently he held a seat in the Wizengamot, a position which he really truly wanted to appreciate, but simply despised because of how incredibly boring it was to sit and listen to people complain and want things all day. He missed the hustle and bustle of everything muggle, and was seriously considering asking for a demotion.

The twins' shop had been raking in the money with their latest line of prank candies. These would turn the person who ate them into a duck for about 20 minutes. It seemed that everyone was clamoring for a chance to turn their friends into fowl.

Dudley had been doing wonderfully in his training with Hermione, and Luna had taken to coming along with him at nearly every meeting they had at the Three Broomsticks. He had already started on 3rd year charms, 2nd year transfiguration, and 4th year defense. However, his potions skills were lacking. He was barely halfway through 1st year potions, and it seemed as though his skills there would forever be dismal, unless he had some sort of accidental siphoning as Harry did, but he didn't want that.

Ron and Hermione had broken up, as they decided mutually that his hotheadedness and her know-it-all attitude simply did not go together. He had gone off to live with Bill and Fleur in an attempt to see some of the world with someone he trusted. Not that he didn't trust Charlie, he just didn't trust the dragons Charlie tamed. Percy had come with him originally, but found a flat just outside of Paris to call his own. He'd quit his job to be able to move, as he was simply tired of being cooped up all the time.

Ginny had been disowned by her family after threatening to kill Harry. Where she was right now, no one really knew, they just knew that she couldn't get back into the burrow, and she couldn't access Hogwarts grounds. Even the twins had warded their shop against her.

Draco had been in a funk, and had stopped going with Dudley for his lessons. He was spending more and more time at the manor, just lying around and eating ice-cream. Granted he would fly for hours to work off the ice-cream, a Malfoy simply couldn't be caught letting themselves go like that, he had stopped taking so much care in his appearance, simply brushing his hair and being done with it instead of preening for hours in front of the mirror as he usually did. Even his clothes bore a few wrinkles now.

Sometimes he would go and visit the twins' joke shop, just to talk about what was going on in their lives, as there was always something interesting going on with the Weasleys. Lately though, the twins had been a bit stand-offish when Draco asked about their family. He'd known Ginny had been disowned, and even gotten filled in on what had happened in great detail, so he simply couldn't understand why they were avoiding the subject of family.

Today, Draco decided to pay a visit to their shop. Oh it wasn't planned, technically, he had received an owl that morning stating the twins were having a special on his favorite candy of the non-prank variety, Wiggling Wobblies. Fred had told them they'd gotten the idea from muggle gummy worms, whatever those were.

Walking into the joke shop, Draco noticed that one of the twins were missing. "Hey Fred. Where's George?"

"He's upstairs. I have no idea what he's doing." Fred told him.

Draco clearly saw he was lying, but decided not to push it. He went around and looked at the candies, when George called out from the top of the stairwell, "Fred, come give me a hand!"

"I can't!" The self-proclaimed more handsome of the two yelled back. "I've got customers. Draco, go help George, would you?"

The blond furrowed his brow a bit. He was going to bite off some remark about not being a slave, but decided that maybe if he cornered one of them alone, he could find out what they were hiding from him. Nodding, the young blond ascended the stairs and walked into the door of the flat.

Immediately, Fred wrapped his hand around Draco's eyes from behind, and George lifted the young man up by the legs. "Let me down, what are you doing? I demand to be put down!" Draco yelled as he was being carried off somewhere.

"As you wish." The twins replied together, dropping him on to their couch. Fred immediately locked the the door and snatched Draco's wand. George took a chair, and slid onto it backwards, leaning against the chair's back and facing the young blond. "We have some questions." George started.

"Why do you keep asking about our family?" Fred demanded.

"Why do you want to know?" Draco asked right back.

"Because we have a theory-" (Fred)

"-and a bet on who's right." (George)

Draco rolled his eyes. "I can tell you're lying about the theory part, but the bet part is a half truth. If you want the truth from me, I want the truth from you."

"Damn, he's good." Fred commented.

"Fine. You first though, then us." George told him.

"I keep asking because I want to know what Charlie is up to." Draco said, his face flushing a bit.

"We wanted to know because we're hiding something from you." Fred told him.

"Why do you want to know what Charlie is up to?" George asked.

"He never responded to my Christmas gift, and I want to know if he liked it, or even if he received it." Draco told them. "What are you hiding?"

"Something big." George stated.

"Do you like Charlie, as in like-like, enough to date him?" Fred asked.

"Yes. What specifically are you hiding?" Draco demanded.

"A living organic mass that has sentience and requires nutrition and rest to survive." Fred told him.

"Would you ever intentionally hurt Charlie?" George asked.

"Only if he intentionally hurt me first. Is it that obvious that I like him?" Draco wondered. He'd moved on from whatever they were hiding, assuming it was an animal of some sort.

"Yes." They both responded.

"He was the only Weasley to get a Christmas present from you." Fred said.

"Would you ever cheat on him?" George asked.

"Not unless I was under the imperius. Did he get my gift? Did he like it?" Draco asked, his posture becoming softer.

"Yes he got it. One question at a time." George told him.

"Do you plan on making us uncles?" Fred asked.

Draco flushed at that. It's not that he didn't have the money to afford the potion needed to allow himself to get pregnant, he just hadn't thought that far ahead. A loud banging from the other room drew their attention.

"Right then, different question. Wh-"

"What the bloody hell was that?" Draco asked, cutting Fred off.

"Hey, one question at a time I said!" George berated.

"Why did you give him a note that said you'd wanted to see him with his present?" Fred asked.

"Because I do want to see him! It's been far too long since I've seen him, and I want to prove that I'm not the bastard I had to act like when I was spying. Did you open his note?"

"Yes he liked your gift." Fred said.

"Wh-" George started, but another loud bang and clatter from the room drew his attention. "Time's up, he's escaped."

The door opened and the first thing seen was a mop of red hair, and a growling was heard. "When I said I was going to meet him today, this was NOT how I planned it!" A voice deeper than the twins' said, sounding a bit angry. "Hello Draco, I see they've kidnapped you too." He said nearly sweetly, before returning to anger again. "Fred, where the _fuck_ is my wand?"

"Don't look at me, George took it!" Fred said as innocently as he could.

"Charlie?" Draco gasped out, his mouth hanging open.

"If you think I can't tell you two apart after years of living with you, you're sorely mistaken. Give. Me. My. Wand. NOW!" He demanded brutally. "And give Draco back his as well."

Fred let out an 'eep' of fear, then quickly tossed the two wands back to their respective owners. After Charlie spelled his hair and clothing right, they had become quite disheveled with his escape from the binds his brothers had put him in, he cast hair color charms on the twins, making their hair as horribly ugly as possible, a sickly pinkish-greenish color.

He turned to the young -obviously stunned- blond sitting on the couch. Through the twins' shrieks of terror, he gave sound advice, "If they ever offer to let you use their place as a meeting grounds, don't accept it."

"You wanted to... meet me? Really?" Draco asked, still unsure if this was some huge prank.

"Yes really. Though I must admit, before your gift and note, I hadn't thought about the prospect of dating you, I had figured you were straight what with Ron's tales of that Parkinson girl hanging off of you all the time." Charlie told him.

"I'm surprised you even knew who I was." Draco said honestly. "We had never really formally talked before, you being off taming dragons and all."

"It's hard not to know who you are. After all, you are a Malfoy, and tales of your actions reach as far as Romania within the wizarding community. Have to admit though, I had hated you for a good time there, but in early July when word got around that you were one of the spies, and had started hanging around with Harry, I knew you couldn't be that bad." Charlie explained.

"You fix our hair right now!" The twins cried.

"Shall we go somewhere quieter?" Charlie offered to Draco.

"Absolutely." The young blond stated.

"I hear there's a new -_Alohamora_- diner in town that serves food like the muggle diners." The oldest present Weasley said.

"Yes, Farcey's. They have delicious food." Draco informed him.

"Well then," The dragon-tamer started, "what say you to a date at Farcey's right now?"

The younger man's face flushed, and he smiled a bit. "I'd say that sounds wonderful."


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Alden had gotten in another fight. More appropriately, Alden had refused to defend himself again. Harry was getting down right tired of his son's choice, and he knew he needed to put aside some time for him soon. Oh, he would drop everything and have the talk right now, but he was sure Minerva would have something to say about his interrupting both his class,. and the child's current class over that.

"What Mr. Flint?" Harry asked when the child's hand shot into the air. Right now it was 4th years Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Calvin Flint, smaller brother to Marcus Flint, was a surprisingly good child, especially considering how much of an utter bully Marcus was.

"I don't understand this advice in the book." He said, pointing to a paragraph. He elaborated some on why he was confused, and Harry explained it in a different way. Once Calvin understood what he was reading correctly, Harry asked him to stay after class, and assured him he wasn't in trouble.

Once the rest of the students had left, Harry offered Calvin a spot for tutoring, as it seemed he could use the help. They agreed on 4 hours a week, Mondays and Wednesdays 2 hours per day after classes.

Once that was all taken care of, Professor Potter was about to do his rounds checking on the students in Gryffindor tower, when Severus stuck his head into Harry's office floo. "I need you in my office, now." He stated, leaving no room for argument or questions as he removed his head quickly.

Slightly confused, Harry threw in some floo powder and went to the man's office. Upon coming into the room, he saw Alden sitting in a chair, his head bent down and his robes tattered. "What happened, Alden, are you alright?" Harry asked, nearly swooping up to the child's side.

"M'fine. Jus' sore." The boy tried, but his hands which were visible from beneath his sleeves, and his wavering voice told a different story.

Rounding to be in front of the child, Harry bent down and took Alden's face into his hand. "What happened?" He asked, concerned.

"The usual." The boy said, wrenching his face out of the man's hand. "Nothing I can't take."

Harry sighed, rubbing at his temples. "Alden, you need to fight back. You can't just let people beat you up all the time, or they'll never stop."

"Besides the whole 'fighting will get you detention' thing, I can't fight back properly." The boy said.

"I've seen you doing the practicals in my class, I know you can fight back." Harry told him.

"That's different, I'm not being yelled at there. I can concentrate on what I'm supposed to do. When it's other kids, my mind just goes automatically to things like the Sectumsempra and Crucio. It's hard to reroute things that were beat into you for 4 years, so I just don't fight back to keep from hurting people too badly. It's better this way." Alden explained.

"Why not train with Harry?" Severus offered. At the confused look the child gave him, he elaborated. "Harry goes once a week to the Room of Requirement to train on false humans that the room provides in order to keep his condition in check."

"There, I could teach you how to make certain curses habit, and how to keep yourself from doing others." Potter explained.

"You'd really share that space with me?" Alden asked.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for my family, and you're family." Harry stated.

"Do you really think it would help?" The child asked.

"Absolutely." Both Severus and Harry stated.

Suddenly, Molly emerged from the fire, holding a very angry looking baby. At Harry and Severus' worried looks, she said, "Teddy's fine. Arthur's came home with a cold. You'd think as witches and wizards we would have come up with something to cure that by now, but no. Anyway, I didn't want little Teddy to catch it, so I brought him back to you." She explained.

Harry thanked her, and she went on her way back to the burrow to take care of her husband. "Now what am I going to do with you?" He asked the baby.

"I can't take him right now, I have 6th year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. They're doing a potion with poisonous ingredients." Severus said a bit irritated that he felt unable to help at the moment.

"I have transfiguration next, but I've been doing so well in the class I can afford to skip it if you need me to." Alden offered.

"You will not be skipping any classes unless it's an emergency." Harry informed the child. "I'll take Teddy with me, I have second year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, and if there's anything those two houses are good at, it's being understanding."

Harry found his way to his classroom, two minutes late thanks to Teddy messing his nappy and needing changed, which didn't help the baby's mood at all. Entering the room, he drew everyone's attention. "As you can see, there is an 8 month old in the class today, so we shall be forgoing the practicals in favor of discussing proper defensive techniques. Also, there is to be no usage of wands for today's class." A girl's hand shot into the air. "Yes, Miss Rellings?" He called on her as he rocked Teddy, who was squirming and babbling lightly.

"Is everything alright Professor?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" He inquired, quite confused, wondering if she was talking personally or within the classroom.

"Is the baby okay? I've never seen him during school hours before." She said.

"He's fine, thank you. But he's not why we're here today." The girl had the decency to blush a bit, and Harry chuckled. "Alright, who can tell me, what spell would you use if you were to face off against someone who just threw a mild hex at you, let's say the Twitchy Ears hex. Mr Collinger?"

"Protego, the shield charm." The boy answered.

"Correct. 2 points to Hufflepuff." Harry smiled a bit, and started walking around the front of the room, bouncing every few steps to attempt to keep Teddy calm. He fired off questions, while the students answered them. As usual in the class, the Ravenclaws knew most of the answers, but he tried to call on the Hufflepuffs just as much to give them a chance at earning points as well.

"Now, say you were-"

"Fwaboof!" Teddy screamed, his face going red, and his little hands in fists.

Snickers went around the room, even the Professor had to admit he thought the child's random outburst was amusing. "Anyway, say you were being accosted by someone who had their wand pointed at you. What spell would you use to change the situation? Miss Ro-"

"Uwaaaaaa!" Teddy yelled, flailing his arms.

"No Teddy, that's wrong. No points for you." Harry said, smirking a bit as the class shared low giggles. "Miss Roberts?"

"Expelliarmus, the disarming charm." She said.

"Correct, 2 points to Ravenclaw."

"Uwaaaa dada uwaaaa dada!"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the baby. "Pair off and quiz each other." He told the students, as he studied the infant in his arms. _That was exactly what he said before Sev and I popped off to the Ministry. If I didn't know any better, I would say he knows what he's saying. _He thought.

Teddy looked up at the professor, and his eyes started to well. "Uwaaaa dada!" He whimpered as tears started rolling down his cheeks and his hair turned red.

"Oh no, Teddy, don't cry now, don't cry." Harry tried to sooth the child, but it had no effect. He called for Moffet, who brought him a bottle. Attempting to feed the child went over about as well as attempting to sooth him. "I don't know what you want." He told the wailing child. "You don't need changed, you wont eat, you wont play, and you wont go to sleep." He tried once more to feed the child, who promptly grabbed the bottle and flung it across the room. Well, as far across the room as an 8 month old can. It only went about 5 feet, but that was enough for it to hit a child on the head.

"Teddy, you don't throw things, that's not nice!" Harry admonished the child.

"Professor Potter?" A girl called out.

"Yes, what?" Harry asked, exasperated.

"I think you lost this." She said, handing the bottle back to the professor, who thanked her for returning it.

He returned his attention to trying to calm the baby, but again, nothing worked. Nearly 3 minutes later, he'd noticed that finally Teddy's wails had begun to stop, and were now little sniffles and coughs. He also thought he heard singing. Glancing to wherever Teddy was looking, he saw two girls, one Ravenclaw and one Hufflepuff, singing some silly song to the baby.

He'd remembered that song from the choir. Maybe that's why they were singing to the child, because it was what they fell back on with their own siblings when they wouldn't stop crying. Eventually, the baby's eyes dropped and he started sucking on his thumb, curled up into Harry's robes.

Potter smiled at the girls, who had stopped singing by now, and in an effort to keep everything quiet, he went to the board and started writing.

_**Please keep silent as the baby is sleeping.  
>Your assignment for the rest of class: Write out the Pros and<br>Cons of using potions during a duel.  
>Also, 20 points to Ravenclaw and 20 points to Hufflepuff for<br>Ms. Logan and Ms. Roberts helping a professor in distress.**_

As the chime was about to ring for class to let out some time later, one of the students cast a silencing charm around the professor and the baby, both of whom were curled up in the former's chair, sleeping. Just in time too, as the chime was extraordinarily loud since no one was talking. The child lifted the charm once the chime had stopped and everyone else had exited the room, then transfigured a paper into a blanket, which they tossed onto the sleeping figures, and cast a barrier charm on the chair. Lastly, they left a note on the desk for the professor once he awoke.

That was how Severus found them that evening when he went searching for the two as they hadn't been to his chamber, or at dinner. Sound asleep, curled up in a chair with a blanket on them, Harry holding Teddy as if he were protecting him from the world, and a paper on the nearly clear desk.

He didn't want to wake them, as they looked so peaceful, but they were both probably hungry. He decided to try an easy wake-up scheme. "Harry. Harry, wake up." He called softly. "Wake up now, you need to eat." That didn't work.

He reached out a hand and stroked the young professor's hair. "Harry, you need to wake up, you and Ted need food in your systems, and he's going to be grumpy all night because he's been sleeping since some time during your last class. Wake up now."

"Mmmm dun wanna." Harry mumbled, drawing his eyebrows together.

"But you need to. It's going to be a long night, and you will need food to handle it." Severus coaxed.

Harry's eyes fluttered open. "Where did the class go?"

"They were let out 4 hours ago." Severus told him, smirking a bit. "One of them left you a note it seems." He pointed to the paper on his desk.

Harry shifted, and cradled the sleeping baby in his left arm, while he picked up the note with his right hand.

_**Professor,**_

_**You fell asleep during class nearly 10 minutes after the baby fell asleep. I cast a silencing charm on you two so the bell wouldn't wake you, you looked like you needed the sleep. I also cast a barrier charm on your chair so the baby wouldn't fall in case you changed positions in your sleep. Please don't be mad at the others if I wasn't permitted to do this, I convinced them to let you sleep.**_

_**~Sharona Logan**_

He put the note down and shook his head, standing up. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep during class. It's bad enough a student do that, a teacher shouldn't have the chance."

"I wont pretend it's perfectly fine that a professor got caught sleeping during class, but given the current situation and the way the students handled themselves, it should be okay for this one time." Severus said, reaching out for the sleeping child. "Give him to me, you need to go eat and I've already had dinner."

"I'd rather not go to the Great Hall right now." Harry said, yawning a bit as he handed the boy over.

"Then eat in my room. There's a reason we have house-elves you know." Severus said, as he exited the room. Making his way down the hall, he saw the girl who had written the note. "Ah, Ms. Logan. I believe we have a matter of points to discuss for your casting charms on your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." He said, his voice nearly a whisper, but no less intimidating.

"Yes sir." The girl replied, resigned to having points taken.

"5 points will be deducted from Ravenclaw for stopping a teacher from hearing the class chime, however, 10 points will be _awarded_ to Ravenclaw for your thoughtfulness about the barrier charm." He said, then turned and walked off. She looked flabbergasted as he disappeared from sight. It wasn't often that Professor Snape awarded points for anything or anyone other than his Slytherins doing something outstanding.


	38. Chapter 38

_**A/N: **_This chapter gets **_really_** dark. Sorry it took me so long to update. (Yeah, a few days is really a long time. I hate waiting! xD ) But yea, this chapter is effing dark, so be warned, read at own risk, and all that jazz. Seriously though, Harry does some pretty creepy stuff in this chapter, I would advise skipping over it if you have a queasy stomach.

**Chapter 38**

"Severus?" Minerva called shakily from the other side of the door to Snape's office.

"Well? Are you going to stand there, or will you let her in?" Harry asked humorously, buttoning up his shirt. The older wizard strode across the room and allowed entrance for the Headmistress.

"Oh Severus, we have a problem." She said, her face tight with worry. Glancing to the chair, she noticed the other occupant of the room. "Harry, good that you're here as well, perhaps you can both sort this out." She wrung her hands.

"What can we help you with Minerva?" Harry asked in a very polite, albeit worried, tone.

"It's Alden... Well, not so much him, specifically, as his godfather, Donovan Muertof. It seems as though when he was placed with his uncle, the man made one of his friends - Muertof - Alden's godfather, and in the event of his uncle's death, he was to be placed with the man, but for the last few years, everyone thought Muertof was dead. Well, he's sent a letter stating that he is going withdraw Alden from the school once he arrives in Hogsmeade at the pub within a few hours, and when I owled him back to inform him that Alden had already been adopted, he sent me the papers proving he held claim over the boy. It seems his papers give him right to demand guardianship." She explained.

Harry's face had went rigid with anger, and Severus' with worry and fear that the boy would be taken away.

Minerva, however, continued. "I spoke with Sloffy, and it turns out that he simply wants Alden to be a servant for him. His own house-elf had been speaking with Sloffy for the last two days, urging her to take Alden and run, as it believed the boy to still be an orphan. It appears to Sloffy that the man wants the boy for... for release of another nature." Her face then became stern. "I want this man out of Alden's life, and if there's anyone who can do it, I know it's you two. I don't care how you get rid of him or what you do to him between now and the time he's gone. I just want him permanently out of the picture."

Her eyes gleamed in an unsettling way, and she added in a low voice, "Sloffy informed me of his... previous escapades with the boy when his uncle was supposedly providing care... She'd told me that the child was under the effects of a sleeping potion the bastard had slipped him so he wouldn't remember a thing."

"Are you saying what I think you are Minnie?" Severus asked, his voice unable to conceal the anger and loathing he felt. "This _man_ has touched my SON?" Harry's lip twitched a bit as he snarled his agreement with the emotions his fiance felt.

"Yes." She replied simply. "Though I was assured he was never penetrated, it still does not lessen the way I feel towards the man." She turned to Harry. "I give you full permission to use any means, as long as it's not within the castle, to remove this pervert from my nephew's life." She stated, then billowed off, doing a remarkable impression of Snape on a bad day.

Harry, whose eyes had turned blood red already from the pure hatred he felt at this _thing_ that dared to ever lay a hand on his son, stood and snarled a bit. For once, Severus was perfectly content with allowing his soon to be husband to, 'lose it', as they had dubbed it. "Let's go play, 'hunt the degenerate'." Harry suggested, a feral grin spreading across his lips.

"With pleasure." The older wizard snarled. "Allow me to bring some potions that will... enhance the experience. Veritaserum, always useful. I believe an, 'All Hours Potion', to keep him from passing out would be helpful." He said, snatching two bottles from his cupboard. "As well as a, 'Nerve-a-More' to keep his nerve endings from properly shutting down due to large amounts of pain. Ah yes, a sensation heightening potion, one to keep him alert and aware of what's happening at all times. I think this should do." He said, his voice wickedly low and threatening.

"Why Severus, I knew there was a reason the Dark Lord favored you. Your brain functions in wonderfully malicious ways." Harry said, smirking a bit as he held on to the last shreds of his humanity until they found the man, for the sake of the other people around them.

Exiting the castle and making their way to Hogsmeade, the pair made one hell of a sight. Harry, with red eyes threatening to start glowing as he thought more and more about what this man had done. He'd shed his robe and was wearing a simple white, button-down shirt with black trousers and dress shoes. He looked as if he might be heading to an office somewhere in Muggle London, if it weren't for the deadly glare on his face.

Severus, clad in full teaching robes, buttons everywhere, with bits of white poking out from his cuffs and neck, looked to be quite frightening as his scowl was the deepest it had ever been, and his eyes glistened and glittered with a fire-like quality.

Those who had noticed the two would quickly make their way to the other side of the street, nearly fleeing from the magic and hatred radiating from the two. They made their way to the Hog's Head pub where the man was supposed to come by, and sat in a corner table within the shadows with a clear view of both the entrance and the fireplace.

The woman who usually went over to take the orders of the patrons simply refused to go near the two men, and it was Aberforth who went over to see if they'd wanted anything or were simply meeting someone. When he actually got to the table, however, he noticed Harry's eyes, as red and penetrating as the Dark Lord's. "Merlin, Harry, what happened to you?"

The young man glanced up at the last living Dumbledore. "Nothing has happened to me. But something will be happening to Muertof soon."

"Muertof? Donovan Muertof? What has the sodding wanker done this time?" Aberforth demanded, crossing his arms over his chest, momentarily forgetting about the boy's red eyes.

"Oh, you know of him?" Severus asked, wanting to gather as much information as he possibly could.

"Know of him, HA! That bastard's related to me, my cousin somehow. He's a git that one, thinks he can have whatever he wants. Tried to come in one day and claim my alcohol was free to him as being relation, then when I refused, tried to curse me with an unforgivable." The old man replied.

"That's nearly tame in comparison as to why we're here." Harry informed Aberforth. At the inquiring look he received, the young man elaborated. "He molested my son."

Aberforth saw red, and not just in Harry's eyes. He had known that the couple had adopted some kid, and that the kid had lost his parents years ago, but he hadn't been filled in properly on all of the details, and now he learned _that_? What he wouldn't do to poison the man's drink with something. But then he had a thought. "Why are you here then, and not out searching for the bloody fucker?"

"Because he's coming here within the hour before he heads to Hogwarts to try to take our son. He was appointed guardian when Alden's uncle died, and he's come to claim the boy as his slave." Severus spat angrily.

Aberforth growled lowly. No one, and he means no one, would ever lay a hand on any children of Harry and Severus' as long as he had breath in his body. He may not have liked Severus too well, but his brother, Albus, had trusted the man indefinitely, and so did Albus' protege, Harry, so if the spy was okay in their books, then the spy was okay in his book.

"I've just had a thought... We have no idea what he looks like." Harry stated, his finger placed on his chin as he was pondering the situation.

"Tall, ratty blond hair, built like a tank." The old man said, as he whipped his wand out and cast a semi-transparent portrait in the air of the man's face. Suddenly, he lowered his wand and a gleam came into his eyes. "I have a plan." He stated, sitting next to the two men, then casting a muffling charm so the nearby patrons couldn't overhear their conversation.

* * *

><p>Donovan Muertof waltzed into the Hog's Head pub that afternoon looking quite smug. He was a bit surprised to find that the place was nearly empty, save for 2 strange looking patrons and Aberforth, who had apparently taken over roll of barkeep for the day as the lovely little wench that he usually saw there was nowhere in sight.<p>

"Ahh Donovan." Aberforth greeted, strangely politely. "I've been thinking about what ye' said a while back now, and I think you're right, it wouldn't do to have family pay for their drinks." He said, much to Muertof's pleasure.

Before the man could answer though, one of the patrons, obviously drunk of his arse, shouted, "Ey Abbyfith! Gimmie anotha one of them Silver Specials." The messy-haired young man demanded, slurring and waving around a few galleons.

"Coming right up." Aberforth replied, pouring some strange silvery concoction into a glass and setting it down in front of the young man, snatching the galleons from his hand.

"Merlin I lourve this stuff." The man stated, stupidly happy and gulping down the strange looking liquid.

"What's in that?" Donovan asked, his curiosity peaked.

"A bit of firewhiskey, some rum, and my own home brew. Mah pa used to call it 'Silver Surprise', but I figured 'Special' would work since I plan on marketing it." The bearded man replied, wiping out a glass.

"Home brew you say? Knowing you it must be intoxicating with simply one glass." Donovan commented.

"Yer tellin me!" The drunk man loudly proclaimed. "This ish just mah second!"

"You can't expect me to believe that only one glass left you that pissed." Muertof skeptically replied.

The other patron, the one that the man had forgot was even there, decided to comment. With a scathing tone of voice he said, "That buffoon came in here as sober as an official at a funeral. He's obviously a lightweight, can't handle his alcohol."

"Nah, that's some pretty strong stuff." Aberforth commented. "It'd probably get anybody as sloshed as that."

"Hey!" The younger patron shouted. "I'm not a baboon!"

Muertof snorted at the delayed reaction, and both he and the other sober patron snorted at the hilarity that the stupid young man's word mix up. The mysterious deep-voiced patron smirked. "Aberforth, I will bet you 10 Galleons that one glass of that concoction of yours does absolutely nothing to me."

The bearded man raised an eyebrow. "You know I can't resist a bet I am going to win. You're on. I say it takes a quarter of a glass before you start slurring your words." He said, laying down his galleons.

Now Donovan Muertof was a gambling man, and he never had a problem with taking money from anybody. He studied the younger patron, who by now was singing songs to a chair off in a corner. Smirking, he lay down 10 galleons of his own. "I say it takes him a half a glass to start slurring his words."

So the glass was poured, and lines were magicked on to it by Aberforth's wand, marking 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4. The dark eyed patron smirked once again, obviously full of himself, and started drinking the alcohol. After his sixth sup, the glass was down to the 1/4 mark, and the first shudder of alcohol burning one's throat was visible as the man rose his eyebrow and smiled at the barkeep.

"That tastes like an alcoholic's heaven." He commented. "So when am I supposed to start slurring my words again?" He asked cockily.

"Give it 3 minutes and we'll see whose slurring what." Aberforth said, a smile of his own.

The minutes passed in what felt like slow motion, but finally the pub owner's wand sent sparks to let them know it was up. "Well?" He asked.

"Well what? I still don't feel in the least bit tipsy, and I would quite like to finish my beverage, if you would be so kind." The mystery man said.

"Damn." Aberforth grumbled. "Ah well, there's still a chance to make you eat your words, Donovan has 10 on you going at half. Get to drinking then!"

The man obliged and drank the concoction, happily waiting for another 3 minutes once the glass had reached halfway. Donovan looked on in anticipation. "What? Did you serisholy think- shit." He commented as he lost the bet. Muertof looked quite happy with the outcome, raking in his 30 galleons. "Well we've all had shome, your turn shtranger." The patron said, raising his glass to the man and taking another few gulps.

"I'd be happy to oblige. I like to think myself a man who can handle my alcohol, but I wont kid myself. Give me 1/3 of a glass of that whatever it is." He said, smirking as he remembered he no longer had to pay for the alcohol.

"Coming right up." Aberforth said, but as he started tipping the container over, there was none left in it to pour into the empty waiting glass. "Damn." He muttered again. "One minute, I got some more down here." He bent down and rustled around behind the counter. A few moments later, he emerged with another container, and began pouring.

The silvery liquid settled into the glass, which was promptly pushed in front of Donovan, who took it happily and sipped to his heart's content. The burn of the alcohol was quite strong and unlike any other alcohol he had ever tasted, he noted, but there was also something odd about the flavor. It was almost as if it had been slightly watered down, then spiced back up with some sort of strong herbs. Whatever Aberforth put into his home brew to intoxicate someone so quickly, it must be good.

Draining the glass, he smiled at the other patrons, awaiting the liqueur to set in and give him a good buzz before going off to get that boy.

"What are you doing?" The mysterious man asked.

"Waiting for the buzz to kick in before I go and pick up my godson." He replied, startled that he had let out such an admission, but figuring it was the alcohol lowering his defenses.

"Oh really." The man said. "He wouldn't happen to go to Hogwarts, would he?"

Donovan furrowed his brow, that man no longer sounded tipsy. "Yes, he does. He's a Slytherin I think, but he wont be staying there." He said, again surprised by the fact that he couldn't seem to hold in what he thought. As a breeze flew by outside and the sound of breathing increased, he became aware that his senses had become hyperactive, and that his nerves were reacting to the very shift in air. He was suddenly very uncomfortable. What was in that stuff anyway?

"I see. Why are you taking him out of school?" The mysterious man asked, as the younger patron slipped in closer, as if to hear the conversation.

"Because he could earn more money being properly trained. He's got the prettiest mouth." Donovan blurted, then abruptly stood up, red in the face. That was something he had never planned on telling anybody. He had better get out of this place before he could spill any secrets that might actually incriminate him.

As he was about to start for the door, Aberforth blasted a wordless spell towards it, locking and sealing it from anyone coming or going. The spell radiated around the frame, and in a flash of yellow light, did the same to all of the grimy windows.

Harry was never quite as glad as he was right now that his old headmaster's brother never cleaned the windows in this place. He stood up and whispered something, waving his hand as invisible binds came from a table and drew Donovan down on to it, securing him tightly.

"You might not want to be around for this Abe. Harry can get pretty frightening when he goes over the edge." Severus whispered to the pub's owner.

"Are you kidding me? I want to see this bastard pay." The bearded man said, a scowl on his face.

None of the Dumbledores looked quite right when they were scowling, Severus thought as he remembered the headmaster doing that once years ago. He returned his attention to his fiance, who was pacing, obviously trying to hang on to his humanity as they needed to interrogate the pervert before he could kill him.

Severus took the initiative to ask the first question, and in a swooping motion, made his way to the helpless, albeit struggling, man. "What were you intending on training him for, and why?"

"To be a whore down on Knockturn Alley. That mouth of his would bring in more money than a job at the Ministry any day. Not to mention I'd get a nice fuck toy out of it." Muertof said, as he wiggled trying to escape, the restraints suddenly feeling as if they were burning his skin.

Slamming his hands down on the table, Harry, eyes redder than they had ever been, yelled at the man. "How many times have you touched him in a sexual way?"

"Seven times." The pervert replied, horrified at his admission.

"Sectumsempra!" Harry cried, slashing the man's clothing and chest, allowing blood to seep and pool around him. "What did you do to him?" He demanded.

"The first three -ow- times I stripped him as he slept and -fuck- jerked off stroking his skin. OW, dammit!" Donovan winced in pain as the binds dug deeper into his arms and legs, causing his nerves to flare as if they were on fire. He was faintly aware of the tables and chairs in the room shaking a bit.

"The fourth and fifth time I drugged him and -shit- jerked us both off. Ow ow ow ow ow, that hurts! The last two times, I drugged him and -son of a bitch- fucked his mouth." He writhed under the binds as they cut into his skin, causing severe lacerations on his arms and legs. "Why the hell do you two care about some kid?" He demanded, panting.

"HE'S MY SON!" Both Severus and Harry shouted at the same time as several chairs fell to the floor and glasses crashed into walls.

"You're the two that adopted him. I should have known." He sneered, the effects of the veritaserum clearly beginning to wear off.

Harry picked up one of the glass shards in his hand, gripped it tightly, and began slicing at the rapist's arm, using the tip to bore a hole into the screaming man's shoulder. He muttered something and the man's clothing disappeared.

Severus quickly followed suit, and levitated one of the larger bits of glass - he didn't want to hurt himself - which he used to do some cutting of his own on the man's thighs.

Harry, noticing the area that his partner was working on, shot a murderous grin towards the very loud man who was pleading in anguish, then grabbed the degenerates member, twisting and yanking in the harshest way possible before pressing the edge of the glass upon it's base.

Severus must have been thinking something along the same lines, as he did the same thing to the man's bullocks, and together, the two sliced off the offending genitals in a slow, agonizing way, being as rough as possible.

Aberforth simply watched the men. _Hmph, and he said Harry was the frightening one. He's just as scary. Note to self; never piss either of them off._

Some shouts, Sectumsempras, Crucios, and various stabs later, Severus thought it high time that the man be properly killed. Harry, however, didn't really see it that way. The older wizard's attempts to gather his love's attention failed miserably, and he finally gave up trying to convince his young counterpart to Avada the abuser and be done with it.

Blood was everywhere. On the man, on Severus, on Harry, on the table, the floor, the chairs, there was even some splatters on the ceiling, yet the man still continued to live, scream, cry, and plead with them. Shaking his head, Severus walked over to Aberforth and said, "I believe we are going to have one hell of a time trying to clean this place after this."

"Why Mr. Snape, I wouldn't dream of asking you to clean my pub." Aberforth stated, clearly not put off by the bloodshed, noise, or illegal spells.

Raising an eyebrow at the man, Severus smirked. "It's almost as if you're used to this kind of thing Abe."

"Haven't you ever wondered why the windows stay grimy all the time?" The bearded man asked, grinning in a nearly feral way.

Realization hit that they were not the only ones to commission the man to use his pub as a... whatever it is you would call this. "Clearly you are not as benevolent as I once believed you to be." Severus commented.

Just as the old man was about to come back with his own comment, a shriek of a different kind rang throughout the room. The two men turned to see what had been done, and the sight in front of them was a bit alarming.

Harry was panting feverishly, standing over Muertof, his right hand gripping the shard of glass tightly, covered in blood. His left hand was holding what appeared to be tangled and shredded intestines. Donovan, who was quite dead now, was laying on the table, his body still in the position it was when being held down by the invisible binds, and his stomach sliced open, spilling his organs over the surface.

That wasn't what had alarmed the men though, as both of them had seen more than their fair share of body parts put on display. No, what concerned them was the what Harry did. He dropped the organs from his hands, reached up into the gaping hole, grasping around, and with some struggle to tear it from it's arteries, pulled out the man's heart.

Taking the glass, he placed the heart on top of the dead man's chest, and stabbed with much might, piercing the once beating thing, and attaching it to the body. His attention turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and as he whipped around, he saw Severus looking at him with a mixture of triumph and worry on his face.

The young wizard reached out, and pulled Severus down by his robes, not caring one bit about the blood that stained his face as he pushed his lips onto the mouth of the slightly off-balance man. Breaking the kiss, he shoved the lifeless body from the table and vanished their clothing as he pinned the older wizard down into the bloody mess they had made.

"I fucking love you." Harry growled with red eyes glistening as he dove in for another kiss, climbing on top of the man - who, mind you, was not only stunned, confused, and worried about the blood that continued to flow from his partner's right hand, but for some reason, incredibly turned on, despite being surrounded by a dead man's various body parts.

Aberforth took this as his cue to head off into the back room for a little while.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **_I told you it got dark. You read it though, so if you don't like it, don't blame me. I gave fair warning.


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

Harry woke up warm in the most comfortable bed he had ever slept in. Oh yes, he remembered this bed, and he quite enjoyed it, after all, it was the bed of his lover, his fiance, his partner, the man who he would gladly die for. Memories of yesterday started drifting forward in his consciousness, and he furrowed his brow. He'd remembered being told by Minerva that someone was coming to take Alden away.

He nearly shot up, but let out a sigh of relief as he found that not only was he sleeping on the man's rather large bed, but Alden, Severus, and Teddy were all asleep on it as well. He noticed that his sudden movement hadn't woken his partner, so he thought the man must really be sleepy. He lay his head back on his pillow as the flood of memories from yesterday bombarded his mind.

Not sure whether he should feel happy the man was dead, angry that the man had gotten away with touching a child for so long, guilty for killing the bastard, or horrified that he loved every minute of torture he gave, he let out a groan and covered his hands with his face.

"Mm'whats the matter?" A deep, sleepy voice asked next to him.

"I'm turning into Voldemort." Harry said, groaning and wishing he had a wall to bash his head against.

That woke the other man up. "You most certainly are not. Why do you say that?"

"I liked what we did yesterday. I liked it during, and I liked it even more after when we... you know." He said, his eyes darting to the children who were beginning to rouse. "It makes me feel like I'm turning into a monster."

Severus leaned over and kissed his fiance. "You're not. He was a horrid vermin that needed to be exterminated. He got what he deserved."

"Who got what he deserved?" Alden asked sleepily, yawning a bit.

"A very bad man." Severus told the young boy.

Harry furrowed his brows. "Why are we all piled on your bed Severus? I don't remember anything that happened after I... did that." He said, frowning a bit.

Severus raised an eyebrow, and Alden groaned. "Now I'll never find out what was in the bag."

"Not this again." Severus said, sighing and laying his head back on a pillow.

"Bag? What bag?" Harry asked.

"Eee blaugh!" Teddy squealed happily as he woke up, causing Harry to smile at the small boy.

"The bag you came in carrying last night. Teddy and I were in Aunt Minnie's office, I'm still not used to calling her that but she insisted. You came in with Severus, dropped a bag on her desk, then you picked Teddy up, grabbed my hand, smiled at her, and it was a weird smile, and we all walked down here." Alden explained, stretching and popping his neck.

"I wonder what I had in the bag." Harry thought aloud. His face paled a bit. "Severus? It wasn't per chance the thing that I put on h- erm, the chest was it?" He asked, phrasing his words to sound as if he were talking about an item.

"No, it wasn't." The older wizard said, giving a yawn of his own.

"What are you two talking about?" Alden asked.

Thanks to Harry's quick thinking, he quickly switched the subject. "He has to know Sev."

"What?" The man demanded, wondering if his future husband was going loony.

Harry turned to the child. "When two people love each other very much-"

Both Alden and Severus groaned at this. "I really don't need 'the talk'. I was already given it, thank you very much, and it was awkward enough having a house-elf explain where certain body parts go." He said, his face turning red.

Harry smiled at the boy. "Well then, just know whether you choose a male or a female we will be okay with it." Then patted him on the head.

Alden groaned again, then went off to the bathroom. Severus chose this moment to whisper to Harry, "I thought for a moment you were going to tell him what we did. It wouldn't have made sense to him, he doesn't remember any of that happening."

"No Sev, I wouldn't have done that. It would have been too much to explain with what little time we have this morning before classes start. By the way, what was in the bag?"

"Muertof's head. And it's Saturday, we don't teach today."

Harry's eyes widened with horror for a moment. "Why are you so calm?" He hurriedly whispered.

"Because the man deserved it and the way I see it, we did nothing wrong. Minnie wanted him out of Alden's life, we wanted him dead, Sloffy wanted Alden safe from the man, and everyone got what they wanted."

Suddenly, Harry's voice got louder. "Wait a minute, it's Saturday? I thought yesterday was Thursday."

"Afraid not, it was Friday all day." Severus informed him.

"Well crap. I've lost a day somewhere." Harry said, searching his mind.

"Ufawoosh bagada ullll." Teddy interjected as Alden came back into the room and sat down on the bed again.

"Yes, quite right. I believe breakfast sounds wonderful as well." Severus said, agreeing with the babbling baby.

"Paba." Teddy said to the man.

Severus looked at the baby curiously, wondering if the child meant what he thought he may have meant, then decided that no, the child was simply rambling on in nonsensical linguistics, as babies often do.

"Mmmm food. The house-elves here make the best food." Alden said.

"I agree completely." Harry stated, nodding a bit.

"Dada." Teddy said, pointedly looking at Harry, who shared a curious glance with Severus.

Harry sighed and reached his right hand up to move his hair out of the way. His fingers never actually reached his head though, as his eyes had caught glimpse of bandages wrapped around his palm. "What?" He asked, confused. "What happened to my hand?"

"I'd forgot about that." Alden said with a shiver. "When we got down here, my hand felt wet, and when I looked at it, I screamed because there was blood all over it and I was worried that one of us had got hurt somehow. Severus explained it though, and it was alright." He said, nodding his head.

"That still doesn't tell me how it got this way to begin with." Harry said, scrunching his face.

"You gripped a piece of glass far too tightly and it sliced your palm open." Severus informed him. "We had sealed it before we returned, however your grip on the boy's hand was so tight, it had caused the wound to break open again."

"Yeah, it was like you never wanted to let me go." The child commented.

"Why doesn't it hurt?" Harry asked, wiggling his fingers.

"The inner bandages are slathered in a pain relief potion. By the time noon rolls around, it will begin to hurt again and we shall have to change the dressings." The older wizard explained before taking his turn to use the restroom.

"Monday's going to be awful if that hasn't healed by then." Alden informed Harry.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because that's your wand hand. You'll have to be using your other hand between now and the time it heals if you want to do any magic. That means your spells will have half the power as normal, your aim will be off, and your reaction time will be much worse." Alden said.

"You've given me a wonderful idea!" Harry exclaimed, not worried about all of that. "I will send an owl to Macoval explaining that using my left hand in battle will be one of main targets of concentration for when I go to train with them."

Alden's eyes widened a bit. "That is a good idea." He stated as Severus came back and ruffled around the wardrobe.

"And without you, I wouldn't have thought of it." Harry said, pulling the child's head in with his left hand and planting a kiss on top of his hair.

"Dada!" Teddy squealed, reaching his little hands up to Harry and wiggling around.

"Is... Is he calling _me _dada?" Harry asked, picking the baby up.

"That is what appears to be happening." Severus said, smirking a bit. He folded his clothing over his arm and walked over, ruffling Alden's hair. "Go get changed, we're going out today. Muggle clothes under your robes."

The boy happily scooted off the bed and ran to his room within Severus' chambers. They had put in extra rooms in both Sev and Harry's chambers for the two boys, both with clothing for them and various other things they might need.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, his stomach rumbling a bit.

"First, to Farcey's. I hear they have an excellent breakfast special going on this week. After that, you'll just have to wait and see." He said, pulling off his pajamas and sliding on his clothing.

Harry put the baby on the bed and set up a barrier charm, then went to get dressed himself.

* * *

><p>Walking in to Farcey's, Harry and Severus were met with the same waitress from before, the one that said the death eaters were kidnapping the savior.<p>

"Oh, Sirs." She said, walking up to them. "I'm so glad you've come back. I was sure I had driven you both away with my stupidity last time."

Alden looked quite confused, but he continued to keep ahold of Severus' hand. Harry, who was holding Teddy, just chuckled. "Ma'am, it really wasn't that big of a deal, nearly anyone could have made that mistake, and my snapping at you was partially due to me having a very worrisome day."

The look on her face grew a bit softer, but still worried, and Severus sighed. "Good lord, you're one of those people that absolutely needs to be forgiven aren't you?" She had the decency to blush, and the older man, who had noticed the necklace the was wearing, rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, you're forgiven. Say 5 Hail Mary-s and don't do it again."

The woman chuckled and blushed a bit more. "Thank you sir." She smiled brightly and led them to a booth, handing them menus and taking their drink orders.

"Hail Mary?" Alden asked.

"It's a muggle thing. In the catholic belief, they need forgiveness for the things they do wrong, so the priest they go to church with assigns them tasks to do to attain said forgiveness. A Hail Mary is a verbal task, and one used often. Her necklace suggested she was catholic, and her attitude last time and this time suggested she was the type of person to find that type of comment both reliving and amusing, which she did." Severus explained, causing Alden to think the man was brilliant at noticing small things such as that, and vowed to learn how to do it himself.

Once the waitress came back, Severus and Alden both ordered the breakfast specials, which consisted of 2 fried eggs, 2 pancakes, one bit of sausage, and 2 strips of bacon. Harry, who couldn't stomach the idea of ordering any meat after what had happened yesterday, ordered a veggie omelet with a side of ketchup.

"Ewwwww ketchup?" Alden asked, disbelieving of what the man had just ordered.

"Yes, it's quite good. I saw it in a muggle movie once, and found out it tastes wonderful." Harry said.

"That sounds awful." Alden said, sticking his tongue out.

After eating their breakfast, Harry had to force himself to finish eating his as the ketchup reminded him far too much of blood for his comfort, Severus led them down the street and through the Leaky Cauldron, where they left their robes with Tom.

"Well, I gathered that we were going into Muggle London for a little while from the clothing we wore, but where exactly are we going?" Harry asked, unsure if he was uncomfortable in his lack of knowledge.

"You'll see." Severus stated, almost smugly.

* * *

><p>Teddy squealed happily as the group walked to an area that smelled absolutely wonderful. It was still chilly, as it was early February, and Teddy was wearing that blue sweater Molly had knitted for him. His hair changed color to that werewolf brown.<p>

Harry, who had noticed the change in color, ruffled his hand through the baby's hair. "Hmm."

"What?" Severus asked, glancing to the two.

"Teddy. His hair changed color even though we put that charm on him so it wouldn't, and he keeps sniffing the air as if he smells something he likes." Harry said in a near whisper to keep the muggles from hearing, and looking a bit confused.

Severus raised an eyebrow. They were nearly at the place he wanted to bring them to, and it probably have some wonderful smells to a werewolf, but Teddy wasn't a werewolf.

"Severus..." Harry called, sounding slightly worried. "His eyes just turned amber." He whispered, holding the baby up to face the man so he could see.

"That is a bit... startling." The older wizard said. "That color is usually reserved for his father's kind." He commented. The only reason he hadn't said werewolves were the muggles around them.

Harry cradled the child, looking slightly concerned. "Dada, gufahbaw." Teddy said, playing with Harry's shirt.

"He called me dada again." Harry said to his family, then focused on the baby. "I'm not your daddy Teddy, I'm your godfather. Remus was your daddy, and we're going to show you all kinds of pictures of him when we get home."

"Eeth nuu fahbah. Eeth dada." Teddy said, looking at the man sternly.

"Severus, I think I'm going crazy. He really sounded like he tried to say, 'is not father, is dada'. Tell me I'm just hearing things." Harry pleaded.

"You're just hearing things." Severus said, then added, "I think I must be hearing things as well, because I must agree with your assessment."

"Maybe this is normal for babies of his kind." Alden said. At the odd looks he got from his parents, he elaborated. "Well, think of it this way. Babies of his kind go through _that_ from their very first... uhhh..." His voice went to a whisper. "I can't think of a euphemism for a 'full moon', but you catch my drift." Raising the tone of his voice back to a normal level, he went on. "That's got to be a lot of pain, right? Maybe they develop their awareness earlier than normal babies because they have to, to counteract that part of them."

"Are you sure you're only 12?" Harry asked jokingly.

"I'll be 13 soon." Alden commented. "The hat told me I would be good in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin."

"Well, you may have a point. We will have to speak with Macoval. I can owl him once we get back." Harry said.

Severus sighed. Oh well, he would just have to come up with another surprise. "That won't be needed. We're meeting Macoval soon."

"What? Why?" Harry asked.

Severus cast a muffling charm around them. "I thought that it would do us all good to learn some about werewolf culture and practices for Teddy's benefit, that way when we told him about his father, we would have something definite to base things on should he have questions."

Harry was stunned at the thoughtfulness of that gesture. It was definitely something that he wouldn't have thought of, and things like that made him glad that Severus was helping him raise the children. He was roused out of his thoughts when Severus said, "And there he is now."

About 20 yards in front of them, Macoval walked towards them, with a female and a child. "Hi Macoval." Harry said, smiling a bit.

"Kione, hello. I am glad you all could make it, thank you Severus for suggesting this." The man said, his amber eyes flicking towards the baby. "Good gracious. Are his eyes amber?"

"Yes, and his hair is back to it's 'Moony' color. They changed, even through the charm we put on him, about 4 minutes ago." Harry explained.

The female's eyes widened. "I thought you said he wasn't a werewolf."

Macoval furrowed his brow. "He isn't, or at least I thought he wasn't. His mother was a metamuf... Metamopal... A lady who could change her appearance. Apparently it starts from the day they're born, but they don't usually change colors to such specific traits from other species, at least that's what Kione said."

"Yes, that's right. Normally a Metamorphmagus will be around 3 when his or her mind develops enough for them to realize that they can change their features at will." Harry informed them.

"Dada oof maah gwabefo." Teddy stated, looking at the other people.

"Yes, that's another thing. He calls me dada, and earlier when I tried to tell him I wasn't his daddy but his godfather, he said what sounded like, 'is not father, is dada'. I really think I was hearing things though, but Alden has a theory on what it might be if little Teddy really did mean what he sounded like he said."

The young boy took that as his cue and relayed his theory to the werewolf, who looked on at him with surprised yet happy eyes. "Yes, that is correct." He said. "Our young do become more aware earlier on than normal babies. Take little Amaris here. She started calling us mama and papa around 6 months old. Granted her words were mispronounced, as one has to expect with a baby, but she could nearly sound like what she wanted to say. Papa sounded more like 'Paba' at the time though."

Severus looked startled for a moment. Harry's eyes widened as well. "Severus, he said paba earlier this morning when you talked to him. Do you think he was calling you papa?"

"Tamara, would you be willing to run a test if they agree?" Macoval asked. The woman nodded and dug around in her bag attached to her waistband, pulling out a small orb with a hole in the top. "Kione, if you would, please draw a small bit of blood from the child and put it in the hole in the orb. Tamara will read off what it shows."

"What is that thing?" Harry asked.

"It was a gift given to our clan by a wizard long ago. It detects werewolf blood, we use it to assess people who we come across in our territory if they claim to be one of us. Tamara's direct lineage was the only ones within the clan to be taught how to use the thing." He explained.

Harry nodded and, using his wand, made a tiny pin-prick on the baby's arm, then held the confused child over the small orb while Tamara used the edge of the hole in it to gather the blood. Harry then healed Teddy's arm, and placed a kiss where the little wound was.

"Well..." The woman said. "This is most certainly unexpected."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**_ Thanks to Rae for the name Tamara~ Also, after this deal with Teddy is figured out, there will be a large gap in time, several months in fact, so be prepared.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

"What's unexpected? Is Teddy a werewolf?" Harry asked, clutching the baby in his arms.

"I... I'm not sure." Tamara admitted. "It's never gave this type of reading before... It says that he is entirely a werewolf, but at the same time, he's completely human, there is no half about it." She said, shaking the orb a bit as if trying to get a different reading.

"How can someone be both a human and a werewolf?" Harry asked.

"How can someone be both a human and any animal?" Severus asked, his brain working in overtime to figure this puzzle out.

Harry looked at Teddy deeply. "Well, if he is a werewolf, then that explains his speech, awareness, and telling us things."

"Animagus." Alden and Severus whispered to each other.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Animagus." Severus repeated. "His animagus must be that of a werewolf. It's the only logical explanation."

Harry drew back his head. "How could that be possible though? Animagi don't turn into other types of people, like werewolves, vampires, and goblins."

"Perhaps..." Macoval started. "The werewolf gene in him may be just enough of a link to a direct animal that it causes it to be his animagy thingy."

Raising an eyebrow, Severus glanced at the man. "For a man who knows very little of the wizarding world, you sure do grasp on to things quickly."

"Thank you, though I am unsure if that was a compliment or an accusation." The alpha said.

"It could be taken as either. If my fiance goes through his training fine, then consider it a compliment. However, if he is taken advantage of in any way, consider it an accusation." Severus said, narrowing his eyes a bit.

"Sev, please.. They wont do anything like that." Harry admonished.

"I wasn't saying they would, I was simply stating how I felt." The older man stated, his arms crossing over his chest in a defensive maneuver.

The group spent the rest of the day talking about Teddy and all sorts of different possibilities, but it soon became plain that the animagus theory was the most logical and likely. Harry and Severus had been charged with finding out as much as they could about animagi, since they had the best resources, and Macoval compiled a list with Tamara's help about all of the things werewolf children did, so the couple wouldn't be too worried if/when something out of the norm happened with the baby.

As the days turned into weeks, and the couple learned and watched Teddy, they soon found out that no, Teddy wasn't an animagus werewolf. The more they studied and learned, especially with Minerva's help, the more holes they found in that theory. Macoval had suggested they speak with another clan, one that was more integrated into the wizarding world, and see if they had any suggestions.

The visit to the other clan had been most unpleasant, at first. When they had arrived, a small group of the werewolves had captured them and taken them to the alpha. Apparently, while this clan was much more aware of the wizarding world, and even had a select few of its members married with witches and wizards, they had always turned those who had wanted to stay with them. Simply put, they just did not trust those from the wizarding world, as the idiots had hunted them for many many years.

Think of their astonishment when they learned that the people they had captured were the ones who had passed that bill within the wizarding world a few months back that made it completely legal for witches and wizards to marry a werewolf. (They weren't all too concerned with the other magical creatures.)

The alpha, Chetal, immediately released the men when he heard their names. He apologized, something which his clan had never seen him do, and offered them anything they wanted in exchange for their help within the wizarding world. Many magical creatures, though not having the pleasure to meet Harry and Severus, had known of them and had considered them to be heroes for their fights for equal treatment.

Unfortunately, their visit with Chetal's clan did not yield any results, other than the possibility of Teddy being a new kind of werewolf. Their theories were much like the animagus theories, but they had insisted that it wasn't anything like that. They suggested that perhaps Teddy had the ability to call upon his inner wolf in times of stress, and had no need for the moon to dictate his transformations. They had also theorized that the transformations would be just as painful as any werewolf's would.

This left the couple thinking that perhaps, thanks to the Metamorphmagus' genes, Teddy might have been another breed of werewolf, one that hadn't previously existed.

More weeks passed, and soon it was June. Ahhh June, the month that the teachers could leave the school and the month that Harry and Severus would have their wedding. It seemed perfect to have the wedding at the beginning of the summer, a year after they had started living together.

Harry and Severus had went to the Burrow to prepare, as the wedding was to be held there. Molly and some of her children had been decorating, even though the wedding was still two days away. Once Harry, Severus, Alden, and Teddy had entered the burrow, they were all accosted by hugs and shared congratulations.

Then, they noticed someone who they hadn't thought would have been there. "Draco, you've come to help with the wedding?" Harry asked the blond young man who was- wait... Was Draco actually HELPING do the dishes? Dear Merlin, what had Molly threatened him with?

"No, helping with the wedding happened to be part of the conditions if I were to stay here for about a week." He said, smirking a bit.

Just as Severus was about to ask why he wanted to stay here for a week, Charlie came down the stairs with a towel on top of his head. "Hey Harry, Severus, children who I don't know, but assume are their kids." He walked over to the sink amidst murmurs of 'hello Charlie', then tilted up Draco's head and planted a quick kiss on his lips. "Morning gorgeous."

"Morning yourself handsome." Draco said, playfully nudging the man with his hip. "Why don't you do the drying? Molly wants these done by hand and I happened to be the first one awake, so I got the lucky job of doing them." He said, never taking his hands from the soapy water.

"Of course, you could have woken me up earlier you know." Charlie said, taking a towel and starting his appointed job.

"You looked so peaceful when you slept though, I couldn't bear to wake you." Draco commented.

Harry was the first to recover from his shock at the interaction between the two. "It looks like Draco got his dragon tamer after all."

Both Charlie and Draco turned around at that, and said simultaneously, "A Malfoy always gets what he wants."

"They stole that from us!" The twins cried whilst bounding down the stairs. Thank goodness their hair was back to normal, the charm had wore off a week after it was cast.

"Fred, George, you two go and set up the chairs outside in the field." Molly commanded. "Then put up a charm so they don't get weather damaged between now and Saturday."

"Yes Mother." The boys chimed, and went out to do as they were told.

"I've never seen them act so willing to do as they were told." Severus commented.

"That's because this is in preparation for your wedding, and they want everything to go right. They even threatened each other in case one of them wanted to put up pranks." Ron said, coming into the kitchen. "Charlie, you're up. Finally. It was creepy seeing Malfoy doing the dishes all on his own."

"Dada!" Teddy stated loudly. "An Mahly, nah!"

Ron furrowed his brows. He had been in France when Harry had told his mum about Teddy being advanced in his speech and awareness, so hearing what sounded like, 'Aunt Molly now!' came as a bit of a shock to him. "I must be hearing things." He said.

"An Mahly!" Teddy squealed, reaching his arms out. He was a year and 2 months old now, and he had known nearly everyone's names, and used them often. Mostly, the Weasley household only held Molly and Arthur anymore, since their children had all went on and moved to various parts of the globe, but Molly had shown him pictures and gotten him used to the names.

"Yes Teddy, aunt Molly is right here." The woman said, scooping the child up. "You remember his picture?" She asked, pointing to her youngest son.

Teddy looked at the boy intently. "I think he's a bit young to-"

"Won!" Teddy called, clapping his hands together.

"How did he... There's no way... What?" Ron said, stuttering. Then Harry and Severus filled the rest of the Weasleys and Draco in on what they knew about Teddy's werewolf part.

* * *

><p>"-and then, when he rose his wand up at me again, the training paid off!" Alden said happily. "I cast a quick leg-locker curse followed by the disarming charm, and he fell to the floor, his wand flying to the other end of the hallway."<p>

"That's wonderful!" Harry said, hugging the child.

"You said that Flitwick had caught you, how did you escape without point deduction?" Severus asked.

"Oh, he used some spell to determine the last spell used from the other boy's wand, and saw I was telling the truth and only defending myself, so Gryffindor lost points." He then looked sheepishly towards Harry. "Sorry about that."

Harry simply chuckled. "It's quite alright. I have no qualms with my lions losing points when they deserve it."

"And it sure sounded like he deserved it." Ron said around a chocolate frog.

"My mind didn't even go to the dark stuff until after I had calmed down." Alden said, smiling broadly.

Severus ruffled the boy's hair. "I'm proud of you."

"Well, it's off to bed with the lot of you." Molly said, ushering the males up. She just realized that she was the only female in the house at all. She shook her head, internally vowing to make some female friends. "We have a busy day tomorrow, and you all are going to need all of the sleep you can get. Severus, Harry, Draco, Charlie, stay down here for a moment."

After the others had all left, she said in a hushed whisper, "I've put you four in a room together, but there's a charm you can use if you want to do anything... personal." She said, causing the four present to blush fiercely. "It's, 'Paries inter' and it will put up a small wall between the beds within the room, and do remember a silencing charm." She said, patting various arms and going off to her own room.

"I can't believe she said that!" Draco stated, his face crimson. Apparently, this was Draco's first night here.

"Me either." Charlie said, shuddering.

"Get used to it." Severus smirked. "She does this for every couple under her roof."

"You've already had her say something like that to you?" Draco asked.

"Every single time we've spent the night." Harry said, chuckling. "I think we're kind of used to it now. Right then, off to bed, I'm tired and I have a feeling Molly is going to work us like dogs tomorrow."


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

"Up up, everybody get up!" The loud obnoxiously cheerful voice called from a downstairs along with the clanking of what sounded to be two pans against each other.

Harry nestled into the warmth that was against him, his Severus, cuddled around him and exerting heat like a furnace. Though it was the summer, the young man didn't seem to mind being wrapped in heat at a moment like this. The burrow must have a cooling charm over it. We're getting married tomorrow. He thought, a smile on his face. His hand crept down the older wizard's torso, who was either actually asleep still, or pretending to be for some unknown reason. If he had slept through the banging and noise Molly was making, then he was probably very very tired.

Aha! There it was. Harry fondled his soon-to-be husband through his pajama bottoms, eliciting a groan from the older man, and causing his eyes to fly open. Yup, he was asleep before. Harry thought, grinning triumphantly. "Harry..." Severus started, but groaned again as the pressing of his lover's hand turned in to a half grip around his groin. "Ha-Harry..." He was trying to protest, but the words came out more needy than he would have liked.

"Shhhh, I didn't put up a silencing charm, we don't want Molly to hear." Harry said.

"It's not Molly or hearing I'm worried about." Severus said, glancing past the young man, his face flushing a bit.

"Then shush and enjoy it." Harry ordered, moving to go underneath the covers.

Severus, however, wasn't having any of that. As much as he enjoyed having this type of thing happen, he did not enjoy the circumstances in which they were happening. He grabbed on to Harry's wrists, trying to get him to stop, but when the young man took that as initiative to only use his mouth and started pulling down the older wizard's pajama bottoms with his teeth, Severus shook his head and used his leg to shift the covers. Lifting the younger man up by the wrists, a task which was rather hard to do with the younger body pressing against him and protesting, he said, "Would you stop that? I'm not sure about you, but I don't fancy having a certain occupant of this room as an audience."

Harry tilted his head to the side. "What are you talking about Sev? Molly's down probably cooking breakfast, and the kids are in a separate room. I want you Sev, I want you in my-"

"Have you forgotten our current sleeping arrangement?" Severus asked, his face flushing even more as he peered past Harry's shoulder again.

"What do you keep looking at over there?" Harry asked, then turned his head around to face a very awake, and rather uncomfortable looking Draco and Charlie. Well, Draco was uncomfortable looking, Charlie on the other hand was far too amused. "Oh... Hi..." Harry said, his face growing red.

"Hullo Harry." Charlie said cheerfully, a smirk on his face. "While I do enjoy the show, I don't think Draco here is too keen on watching his godfather getting a blow-job."

Harry, whose hands were still being held in the air by Severus and was still straddled over the other man, groaned. "Fuck."

"Please don't." Draco said, "At least not until we're out of the room."

Charlie chuckled and Draco snickered, which eventually turned into outright laughter. Apparently, the situation wasn't too serious, as both Harry and Severus found themselves being brought into laughter of their own. A voice called them out of it. "Well I don't see what's so funny about Snape holding Harry by the wrists like that." It was Ron.

The four looked at Ron, then back at Harry and Severus, but broke out laughing again as Harry's wrists were released. "You four are barmy." Ron said, obviously not noticing that Harry was still straddled on top of his fiance. "Breakfast is ready." He said before shaking his head and walking from the room muttering things about Slytherins turning his his brother and his best friend into loons.

There was still an air of amusement around the four as they found themselves in the kitchen. It was definitely a full house that day, as Molly, Arthur, Ron, Fred, George, Severus, Harry, Draco, Charlie, Alden, Teddy, Percy, Bill, and Fluer were all present. Bill, Fluer, and Percy had just came in before Molly had called them all down. Their port-key had been delayed in getting to them, as the wizarding community in France was a bit slower at things like that, so they had to wait longer.

Having 14 people crowded around the table would have been a mess, so they broke off into two groups, 6 eating in the kitchen, and 8 eating in the living room. The eldest took the kitchen, Harry being there because Severus was there as well. So there sat Harry, Severus, Molly, Arthur, Bill, and Fluer. They made small talk, and Severus found himself actually enjoying Bill and Fluer's intellectual discussion on the differences between English and French politics.

All too soon, breakfast was over, and Molly had everyone in a line outside, ready to be told what to do. Just as she was about to begin giving orders, Hermione rushed over to them. "Sorry I'm late." She said, out of breath.

"That's fine dear, but I'm afraid these boys haven't left you any breakfast." The older woman said, smiling a bit.

"Oh, no worries, I had a bite on the way." Hermione said, falling into her place in line.

"Right then. Arthur, you are to be in charge of setting up the heavy items, they will need to be placed as indicated on this guide." Molly said, handing the man a bit of parchment as he went off to the perfectly manicured part of the field.

"Bill and Percy, you two are in charge clearing away any gnomes from the area, and once that's completed, you are to help Arthur with anything he might need." The men nodded and went off to the garden for some good, old fashioned, de-gnoming.

"Fluer and Hermione, you two are to help me with the edible preparations. You two go get started in the kitchen with the roast, as it will take all day to cook." The women both nodded to Molly and went back into the house.

"Charlie, you, Fred, and George are to set up the floral arrangements, use this guide." She said, handing them a parchment.

"Mother, it doesn't escape our notice-" Fred started.

"-that you give the task of flowers-" George added.

"-to your three gay sons." Charlie finished, a smirk on his face.

Molly simply raised an eyebrow. "I've seen the way you all handle decorations, and you all do wonderfully. It doesn't matter whether you're gay or not, you do the job well, now get to it." She demanded. The three snickering men went off to complete their tasks.

"Ronald, you and Alden are to watch Teddy. That is all you are allowed to do today. You're good with children, and can keep Alden company while keeping Teddy occupied." She instructed, handing Teddy to the young man, as they made their way inside as well.

"Draco, you have the best fashion sense of any of us here, you are in charge of taking Severus and Harry to Madame Malkin's and getting them fitted for dress robes." The woman said, handing Draco a pouch of galleons.

"Molly, you can't possibly pay for the robes, you're doing so-" Harry started.

"She isn't paying for them, I am. I gave her a key to one of my vaults, the one I had set aside for the possibility of marriage, and she has been using that to pay for these things." Severus calmed his young fiance.

"Thank goodness." Harry said, leaning against the man's shoulder. "Sorry about that." He said, flushing a bit.

"Quite alright dear." Molly said. "Now, off with you! You can use the floo to go directly to Malkin's, that way you can avoid more people."

Walking through the floo into Madame Malkin's, Harry commented, "I feel silly. I haven't done a thing to help prepare for my own wedding."

"Nonsense Potter." Draco said, smirking a bit. It seemed that when he was put in a position of being in charge of others, he switched back into Lord mode. "You are, in essence, the bride, and brides rarely do any labor for their own weddings."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You're the third person to consider me the bride this week!"

"Try the 20th." Severus said, a smirk playing on his lips. "It seems that while you may be the savior of the wizarding world, you are the more feminine of us."

Draco nodded, much to Harry's horror. "I'm just as masculine as the next guy!" He protested.

Suddenly, an obviously flamboyant man came into the shop and started gushing over fabrics, talking with Madame Malkin, who hadn't noticed the three men.

Harry groaned. "Okay, that was a bad example." Draco and Severus both burst into laughter at the perfect timing of the man's entrance, while Harry just buried his face into his hands. This was going to be a long day.

The laughter got the attention of the woman, and she brought the man over to the trio. "Ahh Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Snape, are we here to do another wardrobe?" She asked, her eyes glittering.

"No Ma'am." Harry said, then pushed Draco forward.

As per the usual, the blond needed absolutely no prompting. "Lord Potter and Lord Snape need to be fitted for your best dress robes. Their wedding is tomorrow!" He exclaimed.

A smile graced the woman's face, and the man beside her clapped his hands. "Morgan, go get the new fabrics." She said.

"Morgan?" Draco asked, smirking at Harry, then turning to the man who was giggling. "What a lovely name. It fits you very well." Draco winked at the man, not a wink of a sexual nature mind you, just a wink to show he wasn't being mean.

Harry groaned. Okay, this man was a REALLY bad example of masculinity. He giggled, clapped, looked, acted, and even had the name of a girl. Again, Harry's mind wandered to the length of the day.

There Harry and Severus stood, in the middle of Madame Malkin's. The woman had locked her doors and put up a closed sign, as she would every time she had a rush order for something big like a wedding.

The two men were being poked and prodded with measuring tape, covered in different fabrics, and fussed over like dolls. "I quite like the green on Harry." Draco commented. "It simply looks good on him."

"Oh yes." Morgan agreed, nodding his head. "What about Severus?" He had taken to using their first names as Draco did, and the two men were so wrapped up in avoiding pins and needles that they didn't care. "I quite like the purple on him."

"Yes, purple is a good color, but it just doesn't fit his personality. Oh, what about this?" Draco asked, holding up a length of red silk fabric.

"Drape it over his shoulder... Yes, like that. That does look wonderful! My yes, I think we've found our color." Morgan said, eying the fabric.

Severus sputtered when he noticed the color. It was Gryffindor Red. "You can't expect me to dress like a Gryffindor at my wedding!" He said.

"Oh come off it Sev." Harry said, smirking a bit. "They're dressing me like a Slytherin, it's the least you could do. Besides, it'll give the girls something to gossip about, us wearing each others house colors."

Severus stared at his young lover. "It's as bright and obnoxious as your house flag!"

Harry, whose arms were outstretched as Malkin was adjusting what were to be his sleeves, stood there trying not to chuckle. "Hey, at least they aren't accenting it with gold."

Morgan's eyes lit up. "That's a wonderful idea!"

"Absolutely not!" Severus said, his leg in the air as one of Malkin's assistants adjusted what was to be his hemline.

"Not on you, silly." Morgan said, covering his mouth with his hand. "On Harry. You would be accented in silver."

"Blimey, that's a wonderful idea!" Draco repeated, catching on to what the other man was saying. "It's like combining their house colors, their houses being a part of who they are, and showing that love truly does not care where you come from."

Severus had to admit, that sounded pretty good. But Gryffindor red? "Couldn't you put me in green accented with gold then?" He asked.

"Harry looks great in green, and you look better in red. Sorry, but you're stuck that way." Draco said, crossing his arms in finality. When Severus was about to protest again, he added, "Who put me in charge of your robes? Who said I had the best fashion sense out of 15 people?"

"A loony woman who obviously doesn't know what she's talking about." Severus muttered. The assistant who was working on him magicked a mirror in front of him so he could see the colors and how he looked in them. He stared at himself for a moment, then commented, "Damn... I hate it when other people are right."

"No, you just hate it when you're wrong." Harry said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"I didn't say I was wrong, and I never said it wouldn't look good, I stated that it was Gryffindor red, and I preferred Slytherin green." Severus said.

"Of course dear." Harry said, wiggling a bit as his arm was poked with a pin.

"With comments like that, you wonder why everyone keeps referring to you as the bride." Draco said, smirking again.

"Oh shut it." Harry said to the blond, no malice at all, simply mildly amused resignation.

"Now for the underclothing." Malkin said, banishing the marked material off to sew itself. It would be sent to them later that evening. "Are either of you cross-dressers?" She asked seriously.

Severus had been expecting the question, as many same-sex couples would often have one of the members cross-dress at times, even if only in experimentation, and some would wear another gender's underclothing during their wedding as a kind of silent appreciation for it. "No Madam." He said simply.

Harry was completely thrown off by the question. "I... We... But..." He blushed ferociously and his eyes widened. This wasn't anything he had ever discussed before, and while he thought he might one day want to experiment with it, he hadn't planned on having the discussion in the middle of a clothing store with an audience. Why had she even asked that?

Severus saw his young fiance's apprehension, and raised an eyebrow. "Well are you or aren't you?" He asked, slightly curious himself.

"I've never... That is to say it's not like I haven't thought about it... But it never came up... We never... I... You... But..." Harry's face turned an even deeper shade of crimson and he wished he could hide. Would Severus expect him to wear feminine things under his robes? He had hinted towards dressing him up in a french maid outfit, and even once threatened putting him in a set of female robes. Maybe he wanted to see Harry in that sort of thing and had never had the courage to ask. He risked a glance up at his soon-to-be husband.

Severus just rolled his eyes. "Just give him the standard male underclothing, if he changes his mind between now and tomorrow morning, we'll just transfigure them."

How on earth is everyone acting like this isn't such a big deal? I mean it's cross-dressing for Merlin's sake! Harry thought, slightly mortified that something like this had come up, and Draco had been there to witness it.

"What's wrong with you Harry?" Draco asked serious, a look of concern on his face.

"I hadn't planned on having this conversation with an audience." Harry hissed, still shocked.

"Oh geeze, this must be one of those muggle things. Look, in the wizarding world, many, and I mean many, same sex couples will cross-dress, even some opposite-sex couples will. Usually it's only one in the relationship who will, but every now and then all parties involved will partake of it. Hell, even I like to wear a nice set of silky panties once in a while, it's not that big of a deal." Draco said, still standing proud.

"Oh yes, the silky ones are quite nice feeling." Morgan said seriously, nodding his head a bit. "Though I quite prefer-" He was cut off.

"Oh my god." Harry said, his eyes wide. "I think I just realized why Minerva looked at me strangely that day when you threatened to put me in a french maid's outfit. She actually thought you were going to!"

"More than likely." Severus shrugged.

"If this is something so well accepted, why is this the first I'm hearing about it?" Harry wondered.

"They don't have a sex-ed class at Hogwarts." The older wizard said. "Though they would probably benefit from one for the muggle-born students, as long as I didn't have to teach it."

"Is there anything else I should know about acceptable sex practices before I go into marriage?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"There are places around Knockturn Alley specifically for public sex." Draco commented.

"The Ministry has a law prohibiting sex with animals, but one allowing sex with animagi, since they retain their human mind." Morgan said.

"Prostitution is legal, not to mention taxed and requires a license." Severus stated.

"Polygamy is legal, up to 5 witches and wizards can marry one another. The ministry thinks that after 4 spouses, you might start playing favorites." The assistant chimed in.

"There's a potion to allow same sex couples to get pregnant." Malkin added.

Harry stared on at the group in disbelief. "I already knew that bit about the potion, but is the rest of that all true?" He asked, receiving nods and serious faces in return. "Merlin." Harry commented, completely thrown off by all of these revelations.

"Oh! I'd just remembered." Draco said, "Once people hit the 2nd cousin mark, it's no longer considered incest."

Harry's eyes widened. "So if Bill had a kid who had a kid, and Percy had a kid, those kids could marry each other, and it would be fine?" Again more nods.

"Many pureblood families arrange marriages between cousins to keep the blood pure." Morgan said.

"What about birth defects?" Harry asked.

"Potions and charms to keep that from happening, though it rarely happens with the cousins being so far apart." Severus commented.

"Many people learn about sex from their older cousins, usually from a hands-on approach, if you catch my drift." Draco said.

"It's considered scandalous if you enter into marriage as a virgin." Malkin noted.

"I think the appropriate muggle saying would be, 'try it before you buy it', or some such nonsense." Severus added. "Now you know why muggle-borns don't tend to stay in the wizarding world after they've completed school. Their views and beliefs are very different from our own. The pureblood mudblood nonsense started over beliefs such as this, and the purebloods looked down on the muggle-borns, as they started trying to change our laws."

"Severus?" Harry asked nearly worriedly. "Are... are you going to marry someone else as well?"

The older wizard walked over to his young fiance, lifted his head up, and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I only have eyes for you. Whilst I may find the idea of performing for an audience of the non-godson variety to be enticing, I would never bring another into our relationship. I'm far too possessive over you, and I can't bear to think of the jealousy that would course through me if I were to see another person touching you." He kissed the young man again, who all but melted into his arms.

"I love you Severus."

"I love you too, brat."

Harry smiled a bit. "Sneaky Slytherin."

Severus raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Foolish Gryffindor."


	42. Chapter 42

**_A/N:_ **I realize that while the views may not be partial to the story itself, they are still rather fun for me to come up with, and so you'll have to either deal with them, or skip over this chapter and the next. ^.^

**Chapter 42**

"Hey Sev? Will you promise not to get mad if I ask a strange question?" Harry wondered, looking up to his lover.

Severus thought for a moment. "I can't promise not to get angry, but I can promise not to take that anger out on you if I do."

Harry smiled faintly, then his face returned to its serious nature. "Well, I was wondering. Everything about sex seems to be so lax here, and I was wondering if the shying away from your godson thing was something only a few do, or if it was a whole wizarding world thing."

"That is a strange question, but no it doesn't make me angry. That's a majority of the wizarding world thing, as there are many who still break the laws. Being a godparent is similar to being a parent. Take Teddy for instance, imagine he's 17, would _you_ want to have sexual relations in front of, or with him?"

Harry made a semi-disgusted face. "Eww, no, he's like a son to me."

"Exactly." Severus said, his eyes soft. "Normally, the godparents have been in the lives of their godchildren since they have been born, and thus view them as children of their own who happen to live with other people."

Harry thought for a few moments, then nodded. It seemed he still had a lot to learn about the wizarding world, at least in this department. After being fitted for the robes and undergarments, Draco had shot off back to the burrow, and Molly had ordered Severus and Harry not to come back until 8pm, that way they couldn't spy on the decorations and it would be too dark when they came back to do anything about it, so the two lovers had a good 7 hours to wander about and do as they pleased.

Right now, they were sitting outside of the Magical Menagerie. "So what do you want to do today?" Harry asked.

"I am beginning to think that perhaps we should drop by Fillywock's Emporium." Severus mused, glancing at a small snake. "What ever happened to Kieran?"

"Oh, she went off into the forbidden forest to find a family of her own species. Apparently I wasn't paying enough attention to her. She's a sweet snake, don't get me wrong, she's just rather clingy. I can't really look after an animal that needs me around all the time when I have two children of my own and a job teaching hundreds of other children." Harry said, wondering how snakes became clingy. "And what is Fillywock's Emporium?"

"Mmm yes I can see your reasoning on that. Perhaps you shall have more time when you come back from your training. Fillywock's Emporium is a local shop down on Knockturn Alley, it's located in the basement of The Spiny Serpent." Severus informed him.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I've been by the Spiny Serpent once years ago. Tried the door, but it was locked."

"Of course it was." When the older wizard got an imploring look, he continued. "The doors there are magicked to recognize certain types of witches and wizards, and without either an escort, or a very good base with the dark arts, you simply can't get it." He explained.

"So what does Fillywock's sell, and why is it in the basement of a dark arts store?"

Severus smirked. "You'll see what they sell when we get there. It resides underneath a dark arts store because not everyone in the wizarding world likes what they have to sell, and while their products aren't illegal, dark, or otherwise frowned upon by the Ministry, so many muggle-borns have come into our world who don't understand our practices, they essentially ran the market for Fillywock's products underground." He rose to begin walking to the store, and his lover followed. "Lucius Farven's cane was bought there." He finished with a smirk.

"You mean that pimp cane?" Harry asked, remembering the snake-headed stick that the blond arsehole always carried around with him.

"Ye- wait... What's a pimp?" Severus asked.

Harry snorted. "A pimp is someone who controls prostitutes in the muggle world, they take all or part of the money earned, and in return offer their protection from other pimps, whores, or police."

"So the Ministry here could be considered one giant pimp, as they take part of the money of our prostitutes and offer them protection against sexual disease." The older wizard mused.

Harry literally laughed right out at that. "I'd never thought of it that way, but yes."

His fiance chose to ignore the laughing. "Why did you call Farven's cane a pimp cane then? He's not a pimp."

Harry just shook his head. "Because canes like that are often carried around as accessories by pimps, along with other gaudy and outrageous items to signify their money and status. His cane looked like a pimp's cane."

"How very odd." Severus said, furrowing his brow. Once they came upon the door to the Spiny Serpent, Severus offered for Harry to go first. "I have a theory that now you shall be able to open the doors without issue."

The younger man rose his eyebrow, but shrugged and tried the door handle anyway. Surprisingly, to him at least, the door swung open for him as his fingers barely grazed the brass knob. "Wow..." Harry said, stepping through the archway into the darkened interior.

A deep, female voice called out from behind a rather large vase. "Greetings. May I be of any service?" She stepped to the side, allowing for her hip-length hair to fall around her shoulders. Harry thought that she couldn't look a day over 20, and wondered what in the world she was doing in a place like this.

"Yes Madame Serena, you may." The older wizard said, offering a slight smile to her.

The young looking woman glanced at him. "It's been nearly 10 years since I've seen you Severus." She returned his smile, and lightly nodded her head in recognition. "And I see you've brought along a friend. Your fiance, if I am correct?"

"Indeed you are. I was under the assumption that you hadn't preferred to follow the gossip." He said, smirking a bit.

"I choose not to, but it gets a bit hard to ignore things when that's all your customers talk about." She turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, it is a pleasure to see you again." She lightly bowed her head at the younger man.

"Again? I've never met you though." He said, confused.

"We haven't met, but I have seen you. I wouldn't have remembered you passing by my doors nearly 7 years ago, but you were a special case. I had to physically keep my door from swinging open at your touch. A child has no place in Knockturn Alley, much less within my stores."

Severus eyes widened a bit. "Serena, are you suggesting that even as a boy, he had the predisposition?"

"Yes. The only thing that gave me enough time to get to the door so I could hold it in place was the age ward. His magical signature overrode it in about 4 seconds." She said, no anger detectable in her voice.

"I'm sorry." Harry said. "I hadn't realized it-"

"No need to apologize." She said, not elaborating further.

"Right... What is this predisposition you spoke of?" He asked, quite curious.

"Toward the dark arts." Serena explained. "As children, most magical souls and minds are pure, but there are some who were either raised in such an environment, or had been part of a dark spell, that they develop a predisposition for the dark arts. As I hear it, you fell into the latter category."

"So... Because of this-" He said, pointing to the scar on his forehead. "-I was able to nearly enter a store meant for adults and dark arts at the age of 12?"

"So it seems." Severus commented.

"You would have been able to come right in had I not been lucky enough to be standing near the door at the time." She said.

Harry couldn't stop himself. He knew it was rude, but he had to know. "How old are you?"

Serena laughed. "I was wondering when you would ask that. It usually takes only a minute before curiosity gets the better of people. I am 45." The young man simply stared at her in a mixture of awe and disbelief. "That reaction gets better every year." Serena said, grinning. Her face then turned slightly serious. "Severus, normally you are anxious to get in and get out as soon as possible, why not this time?"

The older wizard nodded. "Yes, that is normally the case, however, Harry and I are getting married tomorrow, and we have been ordered to stay out of the way by our wedding choreographer until 8 tonight. For what must be the first time in my life, I am in no hurry."

"That is wonderful to hear." Serena said, the smile returning to her face. "I take it you are here then to get a wedding gift for him?"

"Not quite. He has never learned of our world's views on sex, marriage, and the like." Severus told her.

"Ahhhh, I see. You're here for Fillywock's." Her grin turned slightly scary.

"Indeed."

"Mmm, let me lock up the Serpent and I shall take you down." She offered, smirking a bit at the naïve young man. "You're in for a treat, love."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **_Yes, I realize that the **only** place Harry even saw 'The Spiny Serpent' store was in the Chamber of Secrets video game. I am integrating bits and pieces from the games, movies, books, and even some of the bits and pieces Rowling released that aren't in any of the others. Get used to it. :D Also, I foresee another chapter surrounding this store and learning about views, then again another chapter (or two) all about the wedding.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

As Serena led the two men down the stairs and into the basement, Harry was growing anxious. What could be down here? Would it be a kind of book store that specializes in sex and marriage? Perhaps it was one of those public sex spots Draco had said something about, and you had to pay to get in. Or more thought provoking yet, maybe it was a kind of BDSM dungeon scenario where witches and wizards were sent to be trained. Harry's theories were wrong, of course.

As he walked in to the large room with no windows, he was taken aback by how absolutely unlike anything he had imagined the décor was. The walls were covered with something, as where there should be the stone of a basement, there was simply a wooden texture, light in color. The floor was covered in a thick, lush, pale, peach carpet, from one end of the room to the other. There were comfortable looking chairs set up around a circular coffee table, and a fireplace was roaring off to the side, though it produced no heat.

What caught Harry's attention the most though, were the shelves. Three of the four walls were lined with built-in shelves, and every shelf had items atop it. One wall held books, separated into sections. Another wall held many boxes of various shapes and sizes. The last wall held potions, folded clothing for both genders, and what appeared to be random glassware – more specifically, sets of stemmed glasses that were couples.

"Take a seat." Serena ordered. Both Severus and Harry made for the armchairs sitting closest one another, and once they'd sat down, the chairs melded together and formed a loveseat. The woman took the chair across from them. "This is considered a safe haven, you can ask any questions you might have and you will not be judged."

"This is amazing, it's so... cozy in here." Harry said, curling up next to Severus.

"What did you expect? Some sort of torture dungeon?" Severus asked. When Harry blushed and peeked downward a moment, he knew he had assume right. The older man snorted, then smirked. "Not everything related to sex has to be whips and chains you know."

"Though if you are into that kind of thing, we do have plenty of fun toys over there in the boxes for you to choose from." Serena said.

"I... really wouldn't know. I've not used things like that before." Harry admitted. "I do have a question, why is cross-dressing such an acceptable thing here?"

"It started with the robes." Serena said, accio-ing a book to her. She flipped some pages until she came to one with a series of pictures detailing the changing of normal attire. "As you can see in figure 1a, the women used to wear robe-like dresses, and in figure 1b, the men wore trousers and shirts, much like the muggles of the same time period. Between years 500AD and 750AD robes were introduced-"

Her history lesson went on, detailing the small changes made within the robes and whatnot, until they got to the current century. Then they covered other topics, such as all out drag, voyeurism, animagus play, BDSM, and even- "You have got to be kidding me." Harry stated skeptically.

"Afraid not, love." Serena said, a wicked looking smile adorning her face.

"But why would someone **do** that?" Harry asked, his mind trying to wrap around what he had just heard.

"Why do people do many things? It gets them off." Severus said calmly.

"Have you done that?" Harry asked, unsure if he wanted the answer.

"Mmm, once or twice." His fiance stated with a shrug.

"You... you actually _paid _someone to do that?"

"Well of course, it's nearly intoxicating. In fact, the only difference between that and prostitution is that one involves blood. How else do you expect vampires to earn money? Just because they happen to be sort of undead, doesn't mean they don't need food and shelter still. Blood alone is not enough to sate a vampire for more than a few days, and many of us happen to adore the aphrodisiac in the vampire's saliva. They get galleons and a meal, the witch or wizard gets off, and everybody wins. It also keeps down the crime rate with vampires, as they are much less likely to attack someone if they are sated, hence why it's legal." Severus explained.

"You've had a vampire's fangs sunk into your neck..."

"No." Severus corrected, "I've had a vampire's fangs sunk into my upper thigh. Better for the effect, its closer to the target area than the neck, and there's a lovely vein that runs right along here." He said, outlining a vein on Harry's thigh, causing the young man to shiver. "They don't normally do it on the neck, it's far too intimate for most, since it's purely pleasure the customer seeks. Similar to why most of the prostitutes don't kiss their clients. Those types of things are saved for couples mostly."

"How can someone even get off with knowing that someone else is biting them and sucking out their life force?" Harry asked.

Serena took her turn to explain. "Think of it this way. Do you like your thighs being nibbled, bit, licked, and sucked on during foreplay?" The young man nodded, his face blushing slightly. "It's roughly the same thing, except the aphrodisiac in the vampire's saliva is enough to make you come, and after the entrance bite, you don't feel anything except for pleasure as they feed."

The two then went on to inform Harry about the different toys that were common, and the various charms that one could place on items of the non-magical variety to use them in pleasurable fun. Serena moved to gather some boxes from the second set of shelves, and returned with their contents. While Harry had considered himself knowledgeable in sex, he'd found out that there was a plethora of fantasies and fetishes he had never considered.

The three had talked for hours. The woman eventually noticed the time. "Oh dear... It's already 6, I must be heading home soon. Feel free to browse the shelves and pick out anything you like, I'll be upstairs at the register." She informed them, then went off to leave them to it.

"Hey Severus?" Harry asked, remembering the seemingly out-of-place stemmed glasses from earlier. "What are those for?" He asked, pointing to them.

"Ahh, those are simply matching glasses used by people at their weddings to signify that they are getting married" Severus said.

"What, no hidden magical deep sexual meaning?" Harry asked, noting that nearly every other item in the room had precisely that.

"Not a bit." The older man said. "Though sometimes, the contents of the glass are what is sexual. Most marrying witches and wizards fill them with an aphrodisiac that doesn't kick in until three to five hours later, depending on how long they expect their reception to last."

"That would sound like a lovely idea, if we didn't have two children, Draco, and Dudley all at the manor." Harry commented.

Raising an eyebrow, Severus smirked. "I see we did forget something during our discussion about marriage." He said, watching Harry peek into various boxes and look at several of the toys. "The night of the wedding, the marrying parties are shipped off."

"So you mean that you and I will be going somewhere besides the manor tomorrow evening?" Harry asked, lifting some sort of object. "What is this?"

"That is an anal vibrator set to massage the prostate. And yes, we will not be at the manor tomorrow evening."

"Can we get it? And where are we going?"

"If you want it, then get it. And if I told you, it wouldn't be nearly as fun as watching your reaction when we get there."

"Hmm I don't know if I should be worried or excited."

"A little bit of both would serve you well." Severus made a suggestive movement with his eyebrow.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **_I know I know, short short chapter, I'm sorry, please don't hurt me! Next chapter details the wedding though, so it will be more detailed.


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44**

Harry and Severus were sitting in the kitchen, very nervous. Today was their wedding day, and they had been fitted with the best robes. It wasn't a grand affair, simply the Weasleys, the Grangers, Minerva, their children, Dudley, Luna, Draco, and various other people they considered family were in attendance. This was the day that they committed themselves to one another for the rest of their lives. There would be no turning back, not that either of them want to.

Molly hadn't let them out to see the decorations, saying it was to be a surprise. There was the sound now, the one that let everyone know that the two men were to get up and get out there. Harry took hold of Severus' hand, and they started out of the house.

It was absolutely beautiful. Silver was the main color, with small accents of green and gold, as red would have made it feel far too Christmas-y. Chairs were lined up nicely with just enough space in between them for good elbow room, but not so far apart they seemed to isolate the people sitting in them. A table with many silver plated dome covers hiding wonderful smelling food was off to the left. There was an aisle with a silver and green length of fabric, leading up to an official from the Ministry.

Minerva walked up and took Severus' arm, whilst Molly took Harry's. Both men were dressed in matching green robes with gold lining. Draco had given in to Severus' whims and forwent the red robes, on the idea that it would be too much like looking at Christmas, something that Morgan had brought up. As the four walked up the aisle, murmurs went through the crowd at how good they looked, and how beautiful the area was. Reaching the ministry official, the man asked, "Who presents these men to wed?"

Both Minerva and Molly said, "I do."

"Very well, please be seated." The man said, and the two women took to their seats. Just then, Draco and Dudley came up, each standing beside their respective family. "You are gathered here to witness the legal binding between one Severus Snape and one Harry Potter."

"Dada, papa!" Teddy squealed from Ron's arms in a chair off to the right, eliciting chuckles from many of those gathered, including the Ministry official.

"Does anyone have any objections?" He asked. Molly had asked him to perform some muggle wedding things as well, for both men being half-bloods and Harry being raised by muggles, otherwise this line wouldn't have been said at all. No one answered the man, so he continued. "Please face each other." He said. "Repeat after me-"

The man went through several vows, which were not only morally binding, but magically binding as well. Harry and Severus repeated them, Harry only stumbling over his words once but catching it quick enough to not cause an issue. Finally, when he was done, he said, "You may now seal the vows with a kiss."

As their lips met, small silver sparks shot out from their fingertips signifying the vows were in place. Once the last spark died out, the crowd erupted into clapping and cheers. Harry and Severus broke apart, the former blushing a bit as he panted, and the latter simply smirking.

It seemed like everything was flying by, drinks were poured, people offered congratulations, cameras flashed. The men were drug off to the table where both Dudley and Draco gave speeches of a heartwarming and ever to slightly embarrassing nature. Dudley's involved Harry's first kiss with Severus, throwing him off during an argument, which the crowd murmured agreements on, the general consensus being that it was the most probable scenario of their first kiss, as the two were rather explosive. Draco's involved when the two had first gotten together, and a slightly toned down version where Harry and Severus had both said, 'Screw the public', in recognition of their relationship.

Minerva also stood to make a speech, involving how thrown off she had been at the first staff meeting of the year when Harry had stormed in, acting like Severus. This one caused chuckles throughout the crowd, and and several grins from those who knew Harry would do something just like that. Molly made a speech, involving Harry's adoption into her family, and sharing how Severus had reacted to his first hug from her, which gained even more chuckles from those gathered.

Then, surprisingly, Alden made a speech. "Harry and Severus were the only ones to stick up for me when I was being taken advantage of by older students. They saw through my attempts to lie to them about how I was, they saw through the other students' attempts to lie to them about what they had done, and they rescued me, several times. The most recent was when they saved me from a fate far worse than anything the other students could have thrown at me, when they saved me from a man who would have used me as nothing more than a slave." Harry and Severus had both taken in sharp breaths at that, they had no idea the boy had known. Several in the crowd had gasped as well.

Alden continued, but on a slightly different vein. "They adopted me, they cared for me, they never asked that I do anything I wasn't capable of, and they loved me, something that not even those blood related to me had done. They also gave me a little brother, and though the situation surrounding that was most unpleasant, it has made me one of the happiest wizards I know. Without Severus and Harry, it is safe to say that I would not be here today, and I would have never known what a true family could be like. Not only are they caring, loving, and capable individuals, they are also intelligent, righteous, and downright scary when they're angry. I am proud to call them my parents, my fathers." He finished.

Harry was fighting very hard to keep himself from crying, clinging to Severus' hand as if it were the last thing on earth. A few more people gave speeches, but nothing even remotely as touching as what Alden had said. Severus decided that later they would find out how the boy knew about Donovan, but that would be saved for a better time.

The meal, the dancing, and the general reception went wonderfully as well. When it was rounding about 7 in the evening, Teddy had started demanding to be held by Severus, as he hadn't been able to get to his dada and his papa all day. He was very fussy until the older man took him into his arms, where the child calmed considerably, and curled into Severus' robes.

After the wedding was over, Severus and Harry were port-keyed to a location that neither of them had really known. All they knew was that it was a tropical climate, a wizarding house, and no neighbors for miles. They were given that night, the next day, and the next night all to themselves. As per ritual, they consummated the marriage in every room of the house, even the attic, and that was simply on the first night.

During the day, they spent it lounging around on the sea shore, Harry thinking it absolutely hilarious that Severus' swimwear consisted of a vintage looking set of swimming trunks, that looked to be about as old as the man himself was. It was almost as amusing as that silly grey nightshirt the man owned.

Several weeks later, Harry, Dudley, and Draco were helping with the side-business again, as well as Alden and Lorraine. Teddy might have been helping, as he was crawling around making people smile, and Harry found that most people were repeat visitors, not that he hadn't known that the last time. This year, there were no new magical folk, as the screenings had all been done, and nothing came up from that. Potions were distributed, people were generally happy, and lives were brought a bit of peace. Everyone who need it had been seen, and everything was alright.

They had found out that Sloffy had informed Alden of his supposed-to-be godfather's death, as the other house elf had contacted her and told her she wouldn't need to run anymore the day Muertof had died. Alden was quite glad to hear that. Harry and Severus had also found out that Alden was not asleep the first two times, and knew exactly what was going on. This admission of course fueled their rage, and it was hell trying to keep Harry from going off the handle again to go and attempt resurrection of the bastard so he could kill him again. He settled for using the bastard's image as target practice.

It was then time for Harry to go off for an almost-year with the werewolves. "I don't see how I'm going to make it for so long." He said, his eyes teary.

"You are strong, you can make it, I've no doubt." Severus consoled his husband, caressing his face and pulling him in for a kiss.

Once they had broken apart, Harry's eyes welled up more. "I guess this is goodbye."

"No." Alden said, standing tall and refusing to cry. "This is not goodbye, because you're coming back. This is see you later."

"What he said." Severus agreed.

Harry lost it, wrapping the two up in a giant hug, and tears streaming down his face. "I love you guys, don't you ever forget it." He said.

"Never." Severus stated, his voice low.

"Seconded." Alden said, giving in to his urge to cry as well.

"Come on guys." A solemn voice rang out. The three drew from their hug to see an almost pained looking Draco. "Enough with the waterworks." He said, offering a faint smile.

"Oh god Draco." Harry said, his eyes failing miserably at the command. He wrapped his arms around the man he considered his brother. "I'm going to miss you, you pompous prat." He said.

"I'll miss you too you fashion disaster." Draco said, returning the hug and letting his own tears fall.

"Hey guys, Teddy doesn't understand what's going on and he sees everyone crying." Dudley said, rousing the two from their hug.

Harry looked up to see his cousin holding the baffled baby, who was looking rather sad himself glancing around at everyone. His hair turned a blueish purple and his little lip trembled. He had no idea why everyone was crying, but he thought something sad must be happening, so he would cry too.

Harry wrapped both the baby and his cousin up in a hug. "Dudley, I'm glad you're my cousin." He said, then leaned down to kiss Teddy on the forehead. "Don't cry now, dada's just going away for a little while, but he'll be back." He said, brushing some of the child's hair from his face.

"Dada go." Teddy stated sadly. "No, dada stay." He said, his eyes going glassy with moisture.

"Oh god he understands." Harry said, his voice breaking. Severus wrapped him up into a hug. "He's going to grow up and learn so much, and I wont be here to see any of it. I'll miss it all." Harry said, burying his face into his husband's robes.

"I will send you pictures every week." Severus promised. "You wont miss a thing." His voice cracked a tiny bit.

"Merlin I love you Severus." Harry said, wetting the robes of the man in front of him. "I don't know if I can do this, I mean, nearly a year without any of you. It's too much-"

"You are strong and you can do this." Severus told him firmly, holding his young lover tightly. "We can all do this, and it will be a testament to our strength and proof that love really can last."

"I wish I had the courage..." Harry started, but trailed off.

"You do. You've had the courage to face the worst of the worst, you've had the courage to change laws within the wizarding world, you've had the courage to deal out justice to those who deserved it, and you've had the courage to accept two of the most misunderstood beings, Severus and Draco, into you life." Alden told him. "You've had the courage to make drastic change in the wizarding world, people are actually treating other creatures with the respect they deserve now, people are treating other people, no matter their history, with a new respect. If you had the courage to to start a new reign, then you have the courage to live with the werewolves for almost a year."

"What he said." Severus repeated, tightening his grip yet again. "I love you Harry."

"I love you too Severus. I guess... I guess I'll see you later then, since this isn't goodbye, even though it sure as hell feels like it." Harry said, then felt the shoulder of his robe getting slightly damp. Oh god, Severus was crying. Severus... Sev the stoic man... He never cried, not once in their time together, in over 8 years of knowing... Harry's own eyes burst forth with tears he thought had all dried up, and he clinged to the man in front of him as the both shook.

Finally, Severus withdrew from his husband, both of their eyes bloodshot from the tears. "I'll see you later." Severus said, then drew his lover into another kiss, and watched sadly as the man apparated out with a shrunken trunk in his pocket. Severus briskly walked to his bedroom, and closed the door lightly behind him. He unceremoniously flopped onto the bed and curled up around Harry's pillow. Closing his eyes, he silently wept as a child would, as a child did barely two rooms down.

Harry wiped at the tears coming from his eyes as he apparated into the Liridon clan's territory. He sniffled a bit, and said to Macoval, who was standing near him in anticipation of his arrival, "One adventure ends, another begins."

**Finis**

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: _**There may or may not be a sequel, as currently I am working on three other multi-chapter fanfictions... I really need to stop coming up with plots! In any case, if there is a sequel, it wont come out any time soon. Sorry the ending is so sad, I have no idea why I did that, it just felt right. *ducks from thrown objects*


	45. Author's Note

**_A/N: _**I know this is not a chapter, please don't be angry with me.

For those of you who subscribed to the Story Alerts on this this story, but did not subscribe to the Author Alerts, this is just to let you know that 'A New Reign' now has a Sequel titled, 'Settling In'. For those of you that have asked for a sequel, well, it's there. But it's still a work in progress along with another story that I'm neglecting because I like the plot line of Settling better. So yeah. ^_^ Go see 'Settling In' if you want to see what happens to Harry after he comes back from his year with the Liridon clan.

And also a giant thank you to my mom who helped me come up with several ideas for both stories. You rock for helping out your 22 year old potter-nerd daughter, even though you don't really like the Potterverse that much.**_  
><em>**


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